Evangelion: A Beautiful Lie
by Kentoushi87
Summary: The tale of a roguish young man and the blossoming young woman known as Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu. They will discover that we all have a beast within us, some just more so than others... After all, life is sometimes just a beautiful lie.
1. Show Me Where

**AN: In this fic, I have changed quite a bit. The prominent being that Kaji is Shinji's guardian, the Evangelion do not exist, nor do the angels, however NERV does, as well as a few minor details in the characters such as looks and clothing. Otherwise enjoy.**

* * *

Shinji Ikari yawned and stretched as he awoke due to a bit of turbulence on the plane, suddenly jerking upright and causing his headphones and SDAT to fall out of his lap. Groaning, he reached down, only for his SDAT to be snatched up by someone else's hand, his one and only guardian Ryoji Kaji. "Damnit Kaji, give it back!" He exclaimed as he shook his head, as he reached for his music player, only for it to be pulled back out of his reach.

"Nope! You've been listening to this thing since before we took off and we're almost landing, you'll get it back soon..." The older man replied, smirking a bit.

The young sixteen year old sighed and ran a hand through his chocolate brown bangs. In all honesty, the boy looked very much like his guardian with a composed demeanor, their brown hair with a short ponytail in the back, although Shinji lacked the five o clock shadow that Kaji perpetually had.

The only real difference that could be seen between the two other than the obvious age difference, was their choice in clothing. Kaji had on a blue button up shirt that was untucked and a pair of loose khaki pants, which had been deemed by Shinji 'Kaji's uniform'. While Shinji's outfit consisted of a pair of black leather boots, faded blue jeans, a brown shirt that hung a bit loose on his frame, and a black patch leather jacket with the collar upturned.

"Jackass..." The young boy muttered, cracking his neck to the side as he reclined in his seat and cast a glance toward the older man. "So why the hell do we have to move to Tokyo-3 anyway, I mean we could still be in California hanging out at the beach, but no, lets go back to Japan... ass."

Kaji rolled his eyes and bumped his fist down upon his young charges head. "Oh shut it kid, it's your father's idea, not mine."

The silence that followed was too uncomfortable for either person's taste and Shinji quickly decided to shift the topic away from his neglecting bastard excuse for a father. "So where are we gonna live when we get there anyway, and for that matter who's picking us up... you know i hate cabs."

A chuckle and a smirk was the immediate response, soon after a quiet. "You'll see..." Followed as a red light came on, signaling that seat belts now needed to be fastened and that they would land very soon.

* * *

Asuka Langley Soryu, was a rather proud sixteen year old, although who wouldn't be proud with her looks. She had long fire red hair that just shone like the sun in any light, her baby blue eyes sparkled and glimmered almost all hours of the day, and a rather well endowed chest for her age and shapely hips, topped off with muscle legs, lets just say she screamed 'sexy!'. Her beauty however, could only be matched by one thing... her demon like temper. Many boys from her school had tried to sneak a peak up her skirt, or attempt to touch her in any way had been on the receiving end of her anger, and know for a fact hell hath no fury like a bitchy girl on her period.

At the moment, said young girl was bouncing on her heels as she waited in the lobby of the local airport. Her guardian, Katsuragi Misato, had told her this morning that she would not have to go to school today, instead she would accompany her to the airport to pick up two old friends. She wasn't really interested in meeting two of Misato's possible old drinking buddies, but she was less interested in her boring old classes.

"Misato!!" Asuka whined, as she looked over at the purple haired beauty. "When are those two guys you were talking about gonna get here?!" She asked as Misato glanced out the window towards the large runway.

"Ah, their plane just landed, come on we'll wait for them by the escalators." The older woman responded, as she turned and walked away, her tight black pants showing off her ass and causing many men in the terminal to fall over trying to catch a glimpse of the foxy purple haired woman.

'_Perverts!' _Asuka thought bitterly as she followed her guardian of a little more than six years.

The two women didn't have to wait long as soon the image of two rather attractive men appeared coming up the escalator, one of which was immediately tackled into an affectionate hug by a red blur.

"KAJI!!" A girlishly squeal followed, the typical fangirl voice threw Shinji off as he was caught in a bear hug by a girl he didn't recognize. Apparently the girl noticed the awkwardness after a moment and looked up, finding not the eyes of her older crush, but dull blue, almost grey eyes that stared down at her in confusion.

"Ahh... wrong person." Shinji muttered and almost immediately Asuka flew off of him and turned towards his taller companion, hugging Kaji and acting as if the previous incident had never even occurred. With a shrug, the young man glanced back to the purple haired woman standing before them with a smirk on her face. "Hehe... Hey Misato!" He called out as he walked over to the woman and forced himself to look only at her face.

At a younger age Kaji had introduced Misato to him and he had consequently developed, not really a crush so much as hormonal raging attraction towards the drop dead sexy woman. Then again any teenage male who caught a glimpse of Misato would never be able to forget such a sight.

"Shinji!" Misato smiled as she wrapped him up in a hug, then pulled away and glanced him up and down. "You've grown so much, almost a clone of Kaji... though the look works better on you hun!" She gave him a teasing wink before turning and glaring at the older man who had finally been released by Asuka. "You didn't turn him into a womanizer did you?"

Faking as if he had been struck, Kaji threw his hands over his heart. "Oh Katsuragi, after all that time I spent looking forward to this reunion and you strike me down!"

At the comment both Asuka and Shinji scowled, Asuka for having Kaji's attention taken off her, and Shinji for his guardian using such a corny pity card.

"Oh shut it you moron, you just influenced Shinji so much that I had to assume, hell even Asuka mistook him for you." She barked back, moving over and flicking Kaji in between the eyes. "Lets get going, your luggage has already been sent on ahead." And with that said, she turned and walked back toward the parking lot, Kaji following close behind her and Asuka and Shinji walking a few feet behind at a steadier pace.

Finally the two teens turned their attention away from the adults and toward each other, each one glancing the other up and down as they took in their appearances.

'_Blue eyes... red hair... German?' _Shinji noted as he transferred his gaze downward, his eyebrows arching a bit as he noted her outfit. A low cut yellow shirt that dipped down and showed off her rathe large breasts, to top it off she had on a pair of jean shorts that cut off just above her mid thigh, making even more of her curves stand out. _'Definitely german... no doubt about it.' _All in all he had to admit, he had never seen a more attractive girl her age.

Meanwhile Asuka was doing a bit of studying of her own. _'Shite... he looks just like Kaji, definite plus... nice jacket.' _She fell behind just a step and glanced back at Shinji's backside, almost instantly a fan-girlish squeal echoed throughout her mind. _'Mein Gott, what a nice ass!' _

It wasn't long before the four of them reached Misato's flashy red sports car. Whatever trance the two had been in was instantly shattered when the purple haired woman moved to take the drivers seat.

"MISATO!" Shinji cried out, causing the other three to jump up in surprise. "Eh... why don't we let Kaji drive... he was just telling me on the way here that he wanted to drive your car more than anything in the world, besides if we get stuck in traffic I'd rather be stuck listening to you than him!" He lied quickly, gulping in suspense and hoping to the spirits that Misato wouldn't take the wheel.

Luckily it did and after a moment of thought Misato gave a slight shrug and tossed the keys to Kaji, who caught them and moved to take the drivers seat, while Shinji and Asuka climbed into the back.

"Nice." The redhead whispered gratefully as Misato took her seat in the passengers seat and they began to pull out of the airport.

"SO!" Misato cut in before Shinji could reply, turning her head and looking back at the two teens. "You two haven't actually been introduced yet. Asuka, this is Shinji Ikari, Shinji this girl here is-"

"Asuka Langley Soryu! Charmed huh?" Asuka announced herself with a proud grin as she flipped her long red hair over her shoulder, batting her eyelashes a bit.

Chuckling at Asuka's introduction, Shinji nodded. "Sure... so I'm guessing Misato's your guardian?" He asked as he leaned back in the leather seat, the wind whipping through his hair as Kaji sped them along the freeway, though in a much safer way than Misato could possibly ever manage.

"Mhmm... so you're Kaji's charge huh... what are you doing here anyway?" The blue eyed girl countered.

Shinji gave a light shrug and scratched his cheek. "Hmm, don't really know... apparently Kaji's been transferred over here so I gotta follow, if we had to leave the place we had in the states I guess it means it's a long term move..."

"WHAT?" Asuka exclaimed, smiling brightly at the thought of Kaji being able to stay close to her at all times. "Is it true, your moving here? Where are you guys staying?"

Kaji and Misato both chuckled a bit as they pulled into the parking lot of a large apartment building. Much larger and nowhere as much of an eyesore as the apartment complex.

"No fair! you guys get to stay here? This place is huge... the apartments have to be ten times the size of the one me and Misato have." The fire haired girl pouted as Shinji and Kaji both jumped out of the car.

Kaji smiled charmingly and raised an eyebrow at Misato, who winked back. Shinji however caught it. _'What the...'_

"So would you two lovely ladies like to come up and see the place?" The older man offered, smiling a bit.

* * *

Shinji was thoroughly convinced that there was something odd about the whole ordeal of this large and modern apartment. Throughout the period of time that they had been looking around, he noted that Misato knew exactly where everything was. The boxes that housed his things had been piled up in the living room to be moved later, however he had not spotted Kaji's things at all. Not to mention the fact that there were three bedrooms, along with three bathrooms, and a large kitchen with a fully stocked fridge full of beer... and Kaji nor he drank that brand.

"Alright, thats it, what's going on here?" The young man demanded as Misato was leading them out of the master bathroom, which Asuka had gushed at. The other three occupants in the room gave him a quizzical look. To which he sighed and continued. "Kaji your things aren't here and mine are, you look just as lost as me in this place and yet Misato knows it like the back of her hand... I repeat... what is going on?"

With a nervous chuckle, Kaji stepped forward and sighed. "Well... I knew you'd catch on so there isn't any point in hiding it... I'm not staying here Shinji... though you are."

At this point Asuka cut in, looking a bit envious. "So he gets to live here by himself?"

"Not exactly..." Misato replied, smiling a bit at her charge. "So Asuka... what do you say we get out of that dusty old place, and move in here with Shinji!?" She asked, knowing that Asuka dreaded their old apartment.

"YES!" She cried out, pumping her fist in the air with a smirk.

Shinji sighed and glanced over at Kaji. "So what's the deal...?" He asked, pursing his lips together as he had already guessed the answer.

Kaji gave the young man he had raised a regretful look. "I'm sorry Shinji... but I'm not being transferred, I'm being promoted and my job requires me to move around too much for me to take you along with me... Misato's going to get custody of you, but I'll drop by every once in a while.

Nodding, the brown haired boy smiled a bit. "Eh, sure, I get it... guess it won't be too bad... living with two insanely hot girls..." He smirked a bit and Kaji bumped his fist across Shinji's shoulder.

"That's the spirit kid... well I've gotta go meet with Gendo... I'm leaving tonight so I won't be back for a few months."

With a shake of his head, Shinji walked back towards Misato. "See ya around..." He called back as Kaji left the apartment, the faint sounds of a helicopter coming from above vaguely reached Shinji's ears a few minutes later.

"Alright you two, get over here!" Misato called out, blowing on a loud whistle that she apparently pulled out of nowhere. Almost instantly the two teens stood at attention in front of her. With a smile she nodded approvingly and pulled out four long rectangular stickers, two red, two black. "As you two saw there are three bedrooms and three bathrooms... though we haven't decided who's room is who's, so your going to take the stickers and place one on the wall opposite the door of the room you pick... you're going to race, starting from here and I better not hear any complaining about which room you get, I'll take the two that you don't pick." She said as she handed the red stickers to Asuka and the black ones to Shinji.

Instantly both teens knew which room would be their first target, though all the bedrooms were evenly sized, they were styled differently, and one bedroom had a modern bed instead of a futon, with a large plasma screen television already mounted on the wall. The other two bedrooms however, had tatami mats and paper walls, along with futons instead of the modern look and a more comfortable bed.

Though unlike Asuka, Shinji thought ahead beyond the bedroom foremost, the bigger prize would be the master bathroom. It had a jacuzzi, larger bathtub, and a window view of the forest surrounding the city. Of course he would have to go for the master bedroom first, but if all else failed...

"Ready... set..." Misato lifted her hand up in the air and the two teens moved into a position where they could sprint straight towards the master bedroom. "GO!" She cried out, and giggled a bit as the duo raced off, neck and neck before stopping at the doorway of the room.

Shinji reached for the handle and pushed it open, attempting to move foreword only finding himself unable to as Asuka had pushed herself through and as a result forced them to be caught in the doorway and unable to push past each other.

"One side dummkopf!" Asuka cried out as she reached her arm under Shinji's in an attempt to push him aside.

"Feh, not likely! I got here first the rooms mine!" He barked back, smirking a bit in premature triumph. After about three more minutes of trying to push through unsuccessfully however, he sighed heavily. "Damnit... no way we're gonna decide like this... rock paper scissors?" He offered, tilting his head so he could look down at the fire haired german girl.

With a nod of her head, Asuka moved back, effectively untangling them as they stood in the hallway, bringing her fist waist level.

"Alright... Rock... paper... scis-OW!" Shinji cried out as he was suddenly elbowed in the ribs, not too hard but enough to cause him to lose his balance and give Asuka enough time to dash into the room and place her sticker just above the bed on the opposite wall. By the time Shinji had recomposed himself and peaked back into the room, Asuka was laying on the bed on her belly and sticking her tongue out as she kicked her feet childishly. "I win!"

Shinji growled in frustration. "You cheat!... fine then..." He smirked devilishly before he dashed out and made his way towards the Master bath, quickly slamming his sticker on the side of the jacuzzi. Asuka barreled into the doorway a few seconds later and stomped her feet.

"DAMNIT!" She cried out, pouting once more and giving Shinji puppy dog eyes. "Aww c'mon Shinji... can I please have this bathroom? I'll let you use it whenever you need to!" She sang in a sickly sweet voice as she moved over to him.

Smiling a bit, Shinji chuckled. "Tell ya what, I'll give you the bathroom..." He paused, and Asuka brightened, thinking it had worked. "When you kiss my ass!" He finished and Asuka's smile fell into a frown.

However, unexpectedly she began grinning again and leaned into him, winking seductively. "Show me where baby..."

Taken back, Shinji did a double-take, before chuckling and shaking his head. "Ah... touche... but you still can't have the bathroom!" He proclaimed, walking out and stepping into the bedroom closest to the front door and claiming it as his own.

Oblivious to the two teenagers, Misato was grinning like a cheshire cat the entire time as she watched the exchange between the two.

* * *

Later in the afternoon the moving crew had shown up with Misato and Asuka's possessions, and boy did Asuka have a lot of possessions. Grunting, Shinji placed the last of the boxes inside Asuka's room and sighing. "You know I haven't even unpacked yet, and this is your crap, why am I doing all the damn work?" He complained as he opened the box, and then immediately shut it, moving it over to a pile of boxes he had not unpacked, deeming them into the category of 'things not to pull out unless you want to get your ass kicked by a pissed of german girl'.

Asuka flashed him a smirk as she began organizing her closet. "Well as the gentlemen you should be honored to help such a lovely young woman like myself, besides jerk, you owe me for stealing the bathroom!" She exclaimed, although on the inside she was a bit happy to have a rather sexy guy living just one door away and able to do all her work so she could relax.

Shinji scoffed and turned his head to the side, mumbling. "Feh, underneath that facade lies the heart of a beast, im convinced."

"What was that?!"

"OH Nothing!" Shinji instantly replied, standing up and walking out of Asuka's room. "I'm gonna go unpack my things now... see ya." As he turned the corner into his room he sighed as he began unpacking the boxes he had moved in there earlier. As he arranged his things his thoughts drifted a bit.

'_She's not so bad... hit's hard too.' _He thought as he rubbed his chest. _'She's a damn fine view too... not a whore but she loves to show off... that girls pretty damn complicated... this is gonna be interesting.' _Yawning a bit he shrugged off his jacket and shirt, tossing them into a laundry hamper in the corner of his room as he finished unpacking everything but his cello, though he didn't feel like pulling that out of it's box and having to deal with cleaning up the protective styrofoam inside.

A few moments later after he had decided that everything was set up just as he liked it, Shinji moved out into the hallway and headed towards his bathroom, intending on taking a nice hot shower and then heading off to bed for the night.

At the exact moment he exited his room, Asuka came out of hers, and blushed heavily at the sight of Shinji shirtless before her. _'Six pack!' _ Her inner fangirl screamed as she ogled Shinji's muscled body as he continued walking past her, her eyes followed him with each step, practically drooling at his well muscled back.

Shinji himself smirked a bit as he entered his bathroom, having known Asuka was staring. _'Very interesting indeed.'_

* * *

**AN: Eh, not my best work, but its just the first chapter. Anyway yes, I made Shinji a badass, but not a punk... don't like it don't read. Asuka's not going to be drooling all over Shinji every time he walks by, right now she's just using him as... eye candy I suppose. Anyway Next chapter, Shinji goes to school, oh joy!**

**Read and Review!!**


	2. Bite Me

**AN: Well I got some pretty good responses to this story, and as such i'd like to inform you. There will be an actual plot coming up in the next chapter or so!! And it'll be focused around what NERV is in this fic and by the way you'll learn very soon... i think Rei is creepy and I don't like her. Oh and as for time setting... I don't have any idea yet!! Anyways once again my dear friends enjoy, an don't forget to review at the end.**

* * *

Shinji groaned as he rolled out of his futon, slamming hi hand down on the demonically possessed alarm clock that would dare disrupt his slumber. Through his blurry vision he was just able to read the bright red numbers on the clock. _'Six-thirty... why the hell am I waking up at- ugh... i forgot, school.' _He thought disdainfully as he grabbed a black shirt and a pair of jeans. _'Man, I'm so not in the mood for this...' _He commented in his mind as he opened his door and headed for his bathroom, a few moments after he had stepped into the glass barrier that surrounded the shower and turned on the water, some muffled sounds reached his ears, scurrying and then a door opening up and slamming closed.

'_That'll be Misato...heading for a beer. ' _A few minutes later another door opening could be heard, and then the slamming of another. _'Asuka, straight to the bathroom...' _ He smiled a bit and shut off the water, exiting the shower and drying himself off before dressing himself and leaving his bathroom. The sight he was greeted with caused him to raise an eyebrow.

Misato had just popped open a can of beer and took a swig, instantly becoming rejuvenated and crying out. "WHOOOEEE! That's the way to start the day!"

The brown haired boy just sighed and shook his head, walking over to the fridge and pulling out some bacon for a quick breakfast. "I swear Misato, you're gonna drown in YEBISU." He commented as he began frying up the bacon.

Misato just giggled at this. "Oh what a way to die..." She replied as she stole a piece of bacon from Shinji's plate and tossed on her red jacket, getting ready for work as she began to walk down the hallway. "By the way Kaji left this for you." She said as she tossed a small brown package toward Shinji, who caught it with practiced ease. "Don't you two be late for school!" She called out before closing the door, the screeching sounds of her car leaving the parking lot sent chills up the young boys spine.

With a shrug, Shinji ripped open the package and found a small white box and an folded up letter, curious he opened up the letter and his eyes began scanning over the page.

_Shinji,_

_Sorry about all this, I know you must feel like I abandoned you kiddo, but I just didn't think you'd appreciate being a tag along and moving every other week._

_So to make it up to you I decided to give you a gift I know you'll like. Well since I;m not gonna be able to use it... how would you like to have my old motorcycle Shinji? Keys are in the box, and bikes in the parking lot._

_Treat her well Shinji._

_ Kaji_

Shinji immediately ripped open the small box to reveal a dual set of keys. "Oh hell yes!" He cried out as he pocketed the keys, turning his head as the sound of a door being opened became present to his ears.

Tilting his head he was forced to try and not have his eyes bulge out of their sockets as the steam that had flowed out of Asuka's bathroom cleared, revealing the red haired beauty, in all her naked glory. For a moment, time seemed to stop and the two just gazed wide eyed at each other.

'_Shit!' _Asuka screamed in her mind. _'I forgot... Shinji lives with us now too... forgot...to put a towel on...'_

Meanwhile Shinji's own mind was working a mile a minute. _'Holy hell... definite D-cup, fuck her skin's freaking creamy as hell... what a freaking body...' _After a moment however a new thought entered his mind as his eyes had trailed farther down her body, and Asuka caught it. _'Oh shit... she's gonna be pissed.' _

Indeed, Asuka, who had been worried about her own mistake, saw as Shinji's eyes soaked in her entire body, immediately her eyes narrowed. "PERVERT!" She screamed out, grabbing the closest thing she could find to throw at him, which just so happened to be a small vase, which shattered upon connecting with his skull and nicked his skin just above the left eye.

"Damnit!" He winced in pain as he brought his hand up to stop the bleeding, he was about to turn and shout at Asuka, only to find that she had already disappeared, most likely headed to her room to put on some clothing. "Ugh... forget it, suppose it's a fair trade, blood for a peak..." He muttered as he began dapping away at the blood with a wet rag. "Quite a temper on that one..." Grabbing some salve he applied it onto the rather large slice in order to halt the blood that kept getting in his eye.

After finishing off a bit more bacon, Shinji walked over and knocked on Asuka's door. "Yo, we've gotta get going soon Red!" He called out as he grabbed his jacket, tossing it on and adjusting his jacket. "There's bacon on the kitchen table..."

A few seconds later, Asuka opened her door, wearing pair of tight jeans and a plain white top, that still complimented her assets. "Don't call me Red." Was all she said as she brushed past him, once again not even acknowledging the awkward moment that had just occurred.

Rolling his eyes, Shinji went back to his bathroom and began brushing his teeth. "Feh, the name totally fits you, so i don't think I will Red!" He chuckled a bit as he came back to find Asuka brushing her own teeth in the kitchen as she tossed the plates into the sink.

"Feh, you wouldn't have to multitask if you didn't take forty minute showers." He commented.

Asuka threw him a glare. "Oh shut up, we have to get to school and it's a twenty minute walk, I don't want to be late!"

Shinji merely held up the keys Kaji had given him. "Who said a damn thing about walking?" He asked with a smirk.

* * *

It was common knowledge that Asuka Langley Soryu was the most popular, and most beautiful girl. She was intelligent, athletic, and incredibly sexy, so much so that an unofficial fan-club had formed only about three weeks after she had started High School.Unfortunately for the male population, it was also common knowledge that any male who came within ten feet of her with impure intentions would fall victim to a series of slaps, punches, kicks, and knees to the groin that had not yet been seen in the worst of wars. As such Asuka had only female friends, and it was quite a surprise to everyone in school when she pulled up on the back of a black and red Harley, being driven by a young man who no one at school recognized.

Asuka smiled as she took of the blood red helmet Shinji had given her and carried it under her arm as Shinji himself pulled off his black helmet and pulled the rubber band out of his hair, releasing his yew brown hair from the confines of its ponytail.

"That was awesome! I've never ridden on a motorcycle before!" The red haired girl exclaimed as she flipped her own hair over her shoulder.

Shinji chuckled a bit as he stuffed the keys into his pocket and held his helmet in his hand. "It used to be Kaji's you know... anyway just hold onto that helmet, you better not lose it, don't let it out of your sight for a second."

Asuka just rolled her eyes and buckled the helmet to her book bag, beginning to walk towards the courtyard of the school. "Oh hush, I won't lose it... now come on..." She commanded and motioned for him to follow as she walked.

He sighed and followed only about a step behind her, though he couldn't help but notice how she was swishing her hips in a very show-offish way. Nor did he overlook the fact that many people were staring at Shinji, some with anger, some jealousy, and a few concern. In fact Shinji saw one boy with messy brown hair and large glasses give him hand signals as if he were in some sort of danger.

"Hi Asuka! Hey Asuka! Soryu!!" A chorus of greetings from quite a few girls, and a few males who whistled, caught Shinji a bit off guard and he glanced towards Asuka, who was smiling weakly and waving at everyone who greeted her.

Shinji arched an eyebrow as they entered the main building, which in the front of happened to have the school's office. "Feh... you'd think you're some kind of celebrity..."

Asuka turned back and flashed him a smirk. "What, just because they appreciate perfection doesn't mean there's anything wrong!"

Just then the first bell rang and Asuka turned towards Shinji. "Well I've gotta go, maybe we'll have some classes together... if you're lucky that is!" She sent him a wink and went on her way down the halls, leaving Shinji alone in front of the receptionists desk.

With a shrug, Shinji approached the receptionist. "Hey... new student, Shinji Ikari." He said in a bored tone.

The receptionist nodded and smiled a bit. "Ah, Miss Katsuragi called ahead and had your schedule set up, here you go!" She responded, pulling a small piece of paper out of a manilla folder and handing it over to Shinji, who blinked in confusion as he took it.

'_The hell... set up my schedule already, without asking what I wanted to take? Eh whatever... if I don't like it i'll just ask for a change later... German class... weird.'_ He thought as he glanced down at his schedule and began walking down the hall towards home room.

Meanwhile Asuka herself was sitting in her homeroom being bombarded with questions by her peers, and she was rather annoyed by it.

"Asuka who was that guy?"

"Is he single?"

"Why'd he take you to school today?"

"Is he your boyfriend?"

A vein could visibly be seen throbbing in the young girls forehead as the crowd of girls as well as a few guys continued to barrage her with pointless and stupid questions. "Will you all just shut up!" She cried out after her last bit of patience had snapped at the boyfriend comment.

"Indeed." All heads in the class turned to Mitsumoto-sensei, who had just entered and looked rather annoyed that his entire class was messing around instead of sitting down quietly waiting for him to begin the class. "Anyway as most of you no doubt heard... we do have a new student, and he will be joining this home room class. Come in!" He called towards the door.

Everyone quieted down as the door opened and the boy that everyone had seen Asuka arrive with walked into the classroom. Almost instantly a few girls began gushing over his looks, while the boys either narrowed their eyes at him, or just stared confusedly.

Shinji's eyes caught Asuka and he nodded to her as he spoke out. "Shinji Ikari... nice to meet you."

Mitsumoto nodded in recognition. "Alright, take an empty seat... this is just a prep period so it's up to you what you do, I suggest you start brushing up on your classes that you have after this next."

Shinji nodded and made his way over toward Asuka, sitting down next to her and smiling. "Heya Red..."

Asuka groaned inwardly, this was just going to be more trouble. "What are the odds of you having the same homeroom as me?" She grumbled out as she glanced over at her roommate.

Pulling out his schedule and tossing it over to Asuka's desk he replied. "If my hunch is right... about the same as me having every single class with you."

Asuka picked up the schedule and glanced over it. "Geometry... History... Tech...Physics... German...then wrap up with P.E.. Mein Gott, how the hell did you get the exact same classes as me?" She questioned as she tossed the schedule back to him.

"My guess..." Shinji began as he stuffed the schedule back into his book bag. "Misato set it up, the receptionist told me she called ahead and had my schedule already made."

The conversation ended as a freckled girl with brown hair tied up in pigtails came up to the two. "Ikari-san." She stated, causing said boy to glance up at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm Hikari Horaki, class representative, It's nice to meet you!"

Shinji raised an eyebrow at the girl and nodded. "Likewise..."

She immediately smiled warmly. "So how do you know Asuka anyway... and why did you ride here together?"

Asuka who had noticed that it was eerily quite and that if she answered truthfully to her best friend, then the entire class would know that she was living with Shinji, and that was certainly something she did not need at the moment. and she began looking for an excuse that she could pull off. "Ah... he's a..."

"I'm an old friend of Asuka's." Shinji answered for her, noticing the dilemma she was in. "I just moved back here and found out that Asuka lives in the same apartment building this morning, when I found out she goes to the same school I asked if she wanted a ride."

Accepting that answer the class rep turned to her friend and began striking up a new conversation, while Asuka cast him a grateful look, to which he only shrugged in reply. Class carried on very much the same way for quite a while before Shinji turned sidewise and propped his feet up on Asuka's desk, stretching back a bit.

"Get your feet of my desk Dummkopf!" She narrowed her eyes at him and attempted to push his legs away, though soon found that he was indeed stronger than her as his feet didn't move an inch.

"Feh, make me Red. I need to stretch out." He replied with another yawn.

"Well do it on someone else's desk you idiot!" She cried out, her lips pursing in annoyance. As she continued to try and push his feet off her desk, however, Shinji brought his feet down on his own.

"You may want to refrain from calling me an idiot Red..." He said in a warning tone.

"Oh and why is that?" She barked back, and by now the entire class had become aware of the little spat that the two were having, and turned their heads to watch.

A devilish smirk crept up onto Shinji's lips. "Well for starters... if you don't..." He leaned into her, his mouth close to her ear, so much so that his hot breath was sending shivers down the blue eyed beauties spine. "Well the boys of this school my just find out about a certain tattoo that you may, or may not have on your left breast." At his words, Asuka's eyes widened and her face flushed twelve shades of red. This action of course caused many of the students to believe that what was whispered between the two must have been something explicit.

"You wouldn't dare..." She stated, though her voice seemed a bit shaky with doubt.

"Wanna chance it Red?" Shinji countered, smirking and sitting back in his chair, once again propping his feet up on Asuka's desk once more.

* * *

All in all, Shinji had to admit, this new high school wasn't that bad. It was more laid back than any school he had ever attended before and he had plenty of chances to just sit back and do nothing once he finished his assignments. It wasn't until Tech that he made contact with anyone other than Asuka though.

Shinji was sitting back in his chair after completing the typing assignment they had been given, he was about to attempt to snooze off when an IM pop up appeared on his laptop.

'**Shinji Ikari right?'**

The dull blue eyed boy blinked as he glanced at the message, arching an eyebrow before reaching to his keyboard and responding.

'**Yeah... who's this?'**

He waited a few moments before a reply was sent.

'**Kensuke Aida three seats to the left and one row behind.'**

Curious, Shinji turned his head, spotting the boy with glasses who he had seen making hand gestures in the courtyard, narrowing his eyes a bit he went to reply.

'**Alright... what do you want?**'

'**Well I just wanted to warn you since you're new, Asuka's dangerous business man, you've gotta pull out before you get yourself screwed over.'**

Shinji sighed, this was probably just one of Asuka's fanboys trying to pull him out of the picture.

'**I'll make my own judgements about whether or not she's dangerous, in the mean time I suggest you mind your own business...'**

Almost instantly a reply came back.

'**No, It's not the she in herself is dangerous... being around her could be dangerous for you man, her fan club is a bit... obsessive, and I doubt they'll let someone who just shows up outta nowhere snag her before they get a chance.'**

Shinji narrowed his eyes at this. _'Obsessive huh... well I guess I'll find out for myself... and what the hell does he mean snag her?!'_

In the end the conversation had given him a new acquaintance, one quite handy with computers apparently, so a plus to that. When lunch came around Shinji had grabbed Asuka by the arm when she filed out of the classroom and headed towards the cafeteria. "Where do you think your going?" He asked.

Asuka shot him a look and pulled her arm away from him. "It's lunch, I'm going to the cafeteria moron!"

Shinji merely rolled his eyes at her response. "You idiot... there's three things wrong with that... first that this is an open campus, meaning we can leave for lunch, second that we have transportation, and third... I hate cafeteria food." With that he turned and walked down the hall, unbuckling his helmet from his book bag.

Asuka grinned and followed behind him, smiling as she put on her own red helmet. "I've never actually been off campus for lunch, where are we going?" She questioned as they made it to Shinji's bike.

The teenage boy merely shrugged and slid down the protective screen on his helmet. "Hmm, what's a good place to eat around here?"

* * *

"You serious? Misato had a freaking penguin that ran away?" Shinji asked as he took a sip from his coke, laughing hard. "How the fuck did that happen?"

The two had settled in a booth at a local burger joint called Adam's that was apparently a hot spot for teens, both young and old. Currently they were sitting in a booth by the window laughing abut the stories of what her life was like with Misato before Shinji had arrived.

"Yep, anyway we never did find him though Misato was pissed because apparently before he left he drank all of Misato's beer." Asuka chuckled to herself at the memory as she nibbled on her fries.

"Feh, if anyone could teach a penguin to drink it'd be Misato... " Shinji commented as he leaned back, glancing out the window. "So what is there to do in this city really?" He asked, clearly convinced that if he fell into a routine of staying at the apartment he would most likely snap from boredom.

Asuka tilted her head in thought for a minute, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Well there's the lake, and the mall, a bunch of arcades, the gym, oh and the night clubs!"

"Hmm you've gotten into the night clubs here eh?" Shinji asked, smirking a bit.

Asuka merely tossed her hair over her shoulder and winked. "Oh come on, as if anybody would question an amazing beauty like me!" She proclaimed.

Shinji chuckled a bit and stood up. "Maybe you can show me them sometime..." He suggested, winking at his female companion.

Asuka seemed to think for a minute before adding. "Alright, I'll give you the personal Soryu tour around town... if... I get to use the jacuzzi in your bathroom whenever I want!"

The brown haired boy sighed, knowing that if he said no she would perpetually pester him about the bathroom. "Fine fine... I swear you're such a manipulative wench."

The blue eyed teen narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out as she stood up and walked out of the restaurant, heading towards Shinji's bike. "Bite me." She commented, giving Shinji the finger as she fastened her helmet on.

At this Shinji smirked and winked playfully before climbing onto his bike. "Show me where baby..." He laughed as Asuka flushed a bit and climbed onto the back of his bike, wrapping her arms around him as they took off.

Neither of the teens noticed however, a man in a black suit watching them from across the street, pulling out a cell phone. "Subjects are interacting outside of school and home situation well... project is going according to plan.

* * *

**AN: DUN DUN DUNNNN!! Oh no the beginnings of a plot! Whatever shall we do? Well find out next time on Evangelion: Show me where baby!... yeah...**

**Read and Review**


	3. Flash of a Girl

**AN: WARNING!! SLIGHTLY GRAPHIC SCENES at the beginning of this chapter. Nothing too explicit but i feel obligated to warn you all. Anyway big thanks to DCL1981 who helped me with some of the ideas for this chapter, thanks bro!!**

* * *

_Shinji grunted as he fell back onto the bed, Asuka's half naked figure following as the fiery redhead straddled his waist. He licked his lips as his fingertips grazed up the back of her creamy smooth legs, the hem of her skirt riding up as he did so. Meanwhile Asuka made quick work of Shinji's shirt, ripping it apart and trailing hot, wet kisses up his well defined chest. Sighs, moans, and pants filled the air as the two bucked hips against each other, the bulge in Shinji's pants rubbing up against her panties and causing tremors to shoot up through her spine._

"_Asuka..." Shinji moaned out, his hot tongue gliding through the valley of her plump breasts, causing the redhead to arch her back in delight._

"_Sh...Shinji." She managed to pant out, her fingers unbuttoning his pants and nipping at his neck gently._

_It was only a few moments later before both were completely nude, Asuka smirked and licked her lips lustfully as he kisses trailed down his stomach, her fingertips grazing over the length of Shinji's throbbing manhood. Shinji couldn't help but stare as her lips neared the head of his shaft, nearing closer and closer until..._

* * *

Shinji's eyes snapped open and he sat up abruptly, his vision blurry as he glanced around, wondering what had just happened. Realizing it had all been a dream, the brown haired boy smacked his forehead and groaned, shaking his head. "You have to be fucking kidding me!" He rasped out, gritting his teeth at the painful hardness in his boxers, obviously the effects of his dream.

He glanced over at his alarm clock, the red neon light telling him that it was still only four in the morning. With a sigh he got up, hoping the cold air of the night would help him calm down. Slowly and quietly he opened the door to his room, swiftly moving down the hallway and toward the balcony, sliding open the glass door and stepping onto the outer platform of the building. He let out a deep breath as he basked in the cool night air.

It was with a smile that he rested his arms on the railing of the balcony and glanced out towards the Illuminated city of Tokyo-3. After a few moments his 'excitement' dwindled away and he allowed himself to think back on the dream he had just been jolted from.

'_Geez... I've only known Asuka for two and a half weeks...why the hell am I having dreams like that about her?'_ He thought as he allowed his gaze to drift from the lights of the city, up to the few twinkling stars in the sky. _'I mean sure she's freaking gorgeous, and she damn well knows it.' _He closed his eyes and smiled as he thought back to when he had seen Asuka come out of the shower without a towel on. _'Still though, Im not one to have dreams like that with a girl I just met... hell I haven't even dreamed like that about Misato...' _He sighed and shook his head, pulling a small silver container out of his pocket.

Flipping it open, Shinji glanced down at the contents of the container, three cigarettes, courtesy of one Ryoji Kaji. He chuckled a bit as he remembered when they had been given to him.

* * *

Flashback

_Shinji was fourteen at the time, and he and his guardian were standing in a large terminal after just arriving in the states._

"_Here." Kaji said, tossing a small sliver container towards Shinji._

_Curiously, Shinji popped open the top and blinked in surprise at the contents. "What the hell?"_

_Kaji just smiled and ruffled the young boys hair. "Look kiddo... there are gonna be times in your life when you can't figure something out, and I'm pretty sure that these will help you like they do me... I'm not encouraging you to pick up the habit. But damn what anybody says, there are times when a guy just needs a cigarette. I'm only giving you three, but your a smart kid, I doubt your going to need very many."_

_Shinji nodded and smiled, stuffing the container into his pocket. "Thanks Kaji..."_

_End Flashback_

* * *

The brown haired boy glanced down at the container and popped one of the cigarettes out, smirking. "Ah what the hell." He muttered, trapping the filtered end between his lips as he pulled out a small Zippo, lighting the cancer stick and taking a deep hit, surprisingly not hacking up a lung afterward.

Slowly his mind began to stop working a mile a minute and he was able to focus on one thing at a time. "Asuka...Asuka...Asuka is, gorgeous, hot headed, independent, intelligent, and carries her own weight." He muttered under his breath as he looked down over the streets below. "She's... " Shinji closed his eyes as he thought back the past couple of weeks.

The fiery redhead was the only person he had ever felt so comfortable talking to. It was very unusual for him to take part in activities with others, most of the time he just kept to himself listening to his SDAT. However since meeting Asuka it seemed he had spent more time with her in the past two weeks than he had with Kaji in the whole six years of being under his guardianship. As a matter of fact, his SDAT was still tucked safely in his sock drawer where it had been since he had moved to Tokyo-3, not once had he touched it lately.

He sighed, taking another hit of the cigarette. "Asuka is..." The words suddenly became lost from the boys lips as his eyes suddenly dilated, a blank expression on his face as his gaze travelled straight out, looking at nothing in particular.

FLASH!

The image popped into his head for only the briefest of seconds, not even a full image but a blur. A small child, standing across from him with her hands behind her back, a yellow sundress adorning her, he attempted to get a glimpse at the face of the child, only to find she had none, just a shadow... _"Shinji-kun!" _And just as quick as it had appeared in his mind, the vision dispersed, returning him back to the corporeal world.

"What the hell was that?" He questioned aloud, shaking his head in confusion.

"What was what?" A firm, yet sultry and curious voice asked from behind the young teenage boy.

Shinji whirled around quickly, coming face to face with the illuminated figure of none other than the girl who had been the center of his dream not seven minutes ago. The brown haired boy arched an eyebrow as he looked to the fiery redhead before him, the fact that she only had on a white silk nightgown that complimented her figure very well did nothing to help him forget the events in his dream.

"Feh, don't worry about it..." He muttered, deciding to push the flash image to the back of his mind for later. "What are you doing up anyway?" He asked, knowing he had been too quiet for his voice to reach Asuka's room.

Asuka gave a slight shrug as she moved past him, looking out towards the illuminated city. "I couldn't sleep... I didn't know you smoke..." She replied, glancing sidewise at Shinji.

"Hmm..." Shinji looked down at his hand, the cigarette had burned down almost to the filter, with a shrug he took one last hit, before flicking the death stick off the balcony where it fell down and landed on the street below them. "I don't... not normally anyway... nice view huh?" He asked, gesturing out towards the city lights.

Asuka followed his gaze and scoffed. "Hmph... still not as beautiful as the views back in Germany!"

Shinji just rolled his eyes at the comment. "Feh, just because something's not from Germany doesn't mean it's not nice, hell what makes Germany so damn special anyway?"

The redhead narrowed her eyes and bumped her fist on Shinji's head none too softly. "Dummkopf what else? Me of course!" She cried out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

This proclamation only caused the brown haired teen to scowl. "Hmph... self absorbed wench." Instantly he received another blow to the head. "OWW!" With narrowed eyes he stood up straight and brushed past Asuka. "Get dressed, we're going for a ride."

Asuka looked at him with a befuddled stare as she followed him back into the apartment. "It's four-thirty in the god damn morning, where the hell are we gonna go? And what about Misato?"

Shinji smirked a bit as he opened up the door to his room, stepping inside and opening his drawers, pulling out a pair of black leather pants and a simple black shirt. "I'm going to prove a point... besides Misato called after you went to sleep, she won't be coming back for three days, some kind of study at NERV... now go get dressed." He commanded firmly, beginning to pull off his sleep wear.

Asuka blinked in surprise as Shinji took off his shirt, however rather than listening to that annoying fangirl inside her mind and stay to watch, she marched out of her male companions room and went to her own to change.

* * *

Not thirty minutes later Shinji and Asuka were speeding down the empty streets of Tokyo-3. Asuka, who was not use to Shinji going at such a speed on his bike, had flung her arms around his waist in a death grip as she clenched her eyes and buried her head into his back, they hadn't brought their helmets along with them this time and Asuka soon found it to be a very different experience.

"SLOW DOWN!" She cried out, attempting to overcome the roaring engine of the motorcycle.

Shinji merely smirked as he glanced down at the speedometer. "Oh come on! We're barely going 120!" He called back as they rounded a sharp corner, heading up a path that lead to the peak of a mountain. the sudden shift in momentum caused Asuka to squeal and dig her nails into the brown haired boys shirt.

A few moments later Asuka noted that they had slowed down and eventually came to a stop, it was only after twelve seconds of lack of movement that Asuka allowed herself to open her eyes.

"You gonna get off me?" Shinji's voice seemed impatient and Asuka realized that her nails were still dug into his skin, instantly she released him and he got off the bike.

Asuka glanced around, they were at the peak of one of the many hills that surrounded Tokyo-3 and Shinji was walking towards the protective railing that faced the city. Narrowing her eyes at it was basically just the same sight from the apartment only bigger, she stalked towards Shinji. "Just what the hell are we doing here it's the exact same thing as befo-." The words died down in the young woman's throat as the sun began to peak out from the other side of the city.

Almost instantly as the sun hit the city, platforms opened up and the large skyscrapers that Tokyo-3 was famous for began to rise up out of the ground, shining brightly as they basked in the cascading sunlight. Asuka herself merely watched in awe as the city completed itself once again for the day.

Shinji smiled a bit at the girl's reaction, Misato had told him earlier about the best sites to view the city rising, and he was very grateful for it. "You learn a couple things when you travel with an international agent... to each area, city, town, province... there's always something unique... it may not be Germany, but Tokyo-3 has a beauty all it's own." He turned around and smiled warmly at the fiery redhead, the sun straight behind him and Asuka fought hard not to gape and blush at the sight.

It was an hour before either of them made any motion to move, however Asuka was the one to break the comfortable silence the two had fallen into, watching the city. "Come on... we only have an hour before school." She stated suddenly, causing Shinji to jolt.

"Hmm... I don't really feel like going to school today..." Shinji replied, tucking a strand of hair out of his face and behind his ear.

The redhead gave him a look. "Well then what are we going to do today if you plan on ditching?" She asked, hovering over him as he had not left his sitting position.

The dull-blue eyed boy arched an eyebrow as he stood up. "We? You're not going?" He asked, curiously he had Kensuke pull up Asuka's old files. She held a perfect attendance streak from the first day she came to Tokyo-3 up to this very day.

Asuka rolled her eyes at him as she walked over to the bike. "You're my ride baka-Shinji and you better know, if we're ditching today, you are taking me to the mall!" She cried out, throwing her hands up in the air with an exasperated sigh.

Shinji chuckled as he walked over to his bike he was about to mount it but stopped suddenly, and Asuka looked over at him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, tilting her head in very slight concern.

Slowly, Shinji smiled, turning to her and holding up his keys. "Hey Red... wanna give it a whirl?"

* * *

Shinji sighed in relief as Asuka pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the beach. Sure the girl had done alright, and was nowhere near as bad a driver as Misato, but damnit that was his bike and he really didn't want it destroyed. All in all though, she had done a fair job on her first try, she was able to drive them into the city (where they stopped by the apartment to pick up the credit cards Kaji had "Accidentally" left behind.) then she had taken them through a slightly crowded route all the way down to one of the many lakes scattered throughout the forest surrounding the city..

"Heh.. not bad Red." He commented as he got off the bike, stretching a bit as Asuka handed over the keys.

Said girl beamed proudly and flipped her hair back at Shinji's words. "Well what did you expect, nothings too hard for a girl like me!"

Shinji smirked a bit and merely rolled his eyes, walking down the dirt path to the shore of the lake. "All hail the queen of perfection, now come on." He commented with a laugh.

Gritting her teeth slightly, Asuka followed behind him as they walked down the long wooden pier, stopping at the very end. Shinji sat down first dangling his feet over the water as he glanced down at her refection in the surprisingly crystal clear water. a few moments later the redhead followed suit and sat down next to the young man before her, albeit still separated by a good two feet. "So?" She questioned, looking over at him.

"So what?" Shinji answered back, raising an eyebrow.

Asuka grit her teeth together at the reply, clenching her fists in annoyance. "Why the hell did you insist that we stop here first before going anywhere!?" She barked back, her voice rising a few more decimals than Shinji would have liked.

"... To talk..." Was the simple reply given, once again irritating Asuka with it's lack of detail.

"About what?" She asked irritably.

Shinji sighed and scratched his cheek. "Well... we've been living in the same apartment for what, two and a half weeks, and I'd be willing to bet my bike that we don't know the first thing about each other." He stated bluntly, moving his gaze from the water, up to the face of the gorgeous woman next to him.

Asuka stared dumbfounded at the young man next to her, her eyes filled with disbelief. When Shinji had first told her to stop off at the lake, she had assumed he was going to try something, after all the lakes were where most teenagers in Tokyo-3 became premature parents. But to hear him say that he merely just wanted to talk had her befuddled, no male before had simply 'wanted to talk' to Asuka Langley Soryu. "Why?"

Shinji chuckled and smiled a bit at this. "Oh come on, I know there's things you must want to know about me, and I have a few questions myself... so why not?" He replied, smiling warmly at his companion.

For her part, Asuka seemed to smile back and nod. "Alright... what do you wanna know first?" She asked, winging her legs back and forth over the edge of the dock. Surprising enough, for the first time in nearly a week, Asuka completely forgot about the dress she had wanted to buy in the mall, and allowed herself to fall into a comfortable conversation with her only real male friend.

* * *

"Status report..." An echoing voice commanded throughout the dark room.

"Both parties are interacting well together, project is ahead of schedule." Came the quick and monotonic response. "Shinji convinced Asuka to come with him on a trip throughout Tokyo-3 earlier this morning, she almost instantly agreed. They merely spent the day talking to each other at the lake and ten went to the mall where Shinji lugged around Asuka's purchases...he compliments her very well, it almost seemed like a date."

Gendo Ikari nodded solemnly from behind his desk, his glasses gleaming in the darkness. "Of course they do... it's how they were meant to be with each other..."

"Orders sir?" The man asked, his face unreadable as he looked to his superior.

"Lower surveillance to travel out of the apartment and home... I suppose it's only fair to give them... a little privacy."

"Right... anything else while I'm at it?"

Gendo smirked a bit and nodded. "As a matter of fact, there is... deliver a message to Katsuragi on your way out." He said, handing over a small letter to the man, who took it and nodded, stuffing the letter in his back pocket.

Kaji Ryoji grinned a bit at the excuse to visit the foxy woman who his thoughts centered around. "Of course..."

* * *

It was well past eleven when Shinji and Asuka returned to the apartment, though neither of the two were tired and thus settled down in the living room.

"Ahh, what a great day!" Asuka sighed out happily as she flopped back onto the couch, going through the DVD's that Shinji had bought at the mall, looking for a suitable movie to watch. "Geez these are old... 300? What's that?" The redhead asked curiously as Shinji returned from the kitchen, a plate of snacks in one hand and two bottles of vodka in the other, as well as two shot glasses.

"That my dear... is the best movie ever to be created, I was never able to find it in Japanese until today." He smiled as he plopped the two bottles down and the tray of snacks on the table, grabbing the DVD and popping it into the player, turning on the TV as he moved back onto the couch and sat down next to Asuka, considerably closer than they had when they were at the docks.

Asuka shrugged and then glanced at the bottle Shinji had placed in front of her. "Misato's gonna kill you for taking her beer..."

The brown haired teen merely rolled his eyes. "She has two hundred cases here... I doubt she'll miss two... besides we're going to have a bit of fun with this movie..."

"How so?"

Shinji grinned and held up the can of beer. "Every time someone dies in this movie... take a shot."

Asuka merely arched an eyebrow, but smiled. "Fine, I'll outdrink you in no time flat!"

(**AN: DO NOT!! Try this, you will freaking die!! YOU have been WARNED.**)

And so, the next morning Shinji's eyes fluttered open to find a rather pissed Misato glaring down at him. Curious, he glanced around and realized what had pissed her off... twelve vodka bottles littered the floor, as well as a few cans of YEBISU, however the main thing Shinji noted, and later blushed at, was a half naked Asuka, dressed in only what seemed to be the white sheets from her bed. Her body almost completely exposed to any who would have stumbled into the apartment. As Shinji looked back to his guardian, he could only mutter two words.

"Ah fuck."

* * *

**AN: Yeah not much of a chapter and only a piece of the later plot but I need to develop a form of trust between Shinji and Asuka before i dive into things. Anyway see ya guys soon, next chapter, time to face Misato's wrath!**


	4. Coincidental consequences

**AN: Well here it is, the next installment of Evangelion: Show me where baby. I'd like to give a big thanks to my bud DCL1981 who has been a big help with giving me some more ideas for this story! Without him this story wouldn't be half as well organized as it is now! Also I'm just gonna let you all know I'm working on extending the length of the chapters. Hopefully this one will be my longest yet. Anyway without further adieu, ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

* * *

Misato stared down the two teenagers sitting across from her, both of which held the looks of those about to be condemned to death. Asuka looked torn between trying to remember last nights events, and delivering another slap to the male she had awoken next to, whom still had the red imprint of her hand on his cheek. However for his part, Shinji seemed a little more relaxed than Asuka did, after all he wasn't the one who had woken up completely nude and barely covered by sheets. He grinned a bit remembering just how that had occurred, as it wasn't often that he would forget an entire night..

* * *

_Asuka scoffed at the screen, swaying a bit as she had already consumed about a quarter bottle of vodka. Shinji noting that Asuka couldn't really hold her liquor, while not drunk Asuka was already a bit tipsy and he could tell she was almost lost._

"_Hah! That girl's supposed to be one of the most beautiful girls in Sparta?" She pointed her finger accusingly as the image of the young oracle girl danced on the screen. "They must not have a very good selection then!"_

_Shinji, who had only been listening half heartedly, smirked. "Bullshit, she looks just like you Asuka!" He replied, waving his hand dismissively as he watched the German girl's eyes turn red with anger._

"_Are you accusing me and her of being in the same class!" She yelled, narrowing her eyes as she jumped off the couch, towering over Shinji._

_The brown haired boy paused the movie, then glanced at the scree, then back at Asuka. "Well you're right... can't really be in the same class, one of you is higher..." The redhead girl smirked at this, knowing she had won. "However she's the one half naked so... she wins!"_

_Needless to say he promptly received a not so soft blow to the back of the head. "Oww!" He muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "What the hell?"_

_Asuka puffed her chest out proudly. "I'll show you that I'm always number one in terms of beauty!" With that she ran straight into her room where Shinji heard the ruffling from her sheets._

"_Hmm?" Not ten seconds later the redhead popped back into view, only this time clad in a white bed sheet, draped around her._

_Instantly, Shinji's eyes bugged out, as he was quite sober still. With a sigh he glanced at an untouched bottle of vodka, popping the cork and smiling. "I'm gonna need this..." With that he proceeded to chug the entire bottle. _

_The rest of his memory was a blur but he distinctly remembered Asuka dancing around in an attempt to mimic the oracle girl, though Shinji decided he much liked seeing such a thing up close... especially when it was the image of Asuka._

* * *

Shinji fell out of his little flashback and noticed that neither of the female's seemed as if they were going to say anything and he was going to have to take the initiative. With a sigh he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "So I-"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" Misato's outburst caused both teens to jump, startled by just how loud their guardian could get. Misato had jumped up, slamming both hands down on the kitchen table in anger, her eyes were narrowed so much that Shinji had thought he saw slits in them for a moment.

"I... uh... look Red was only like that because sh-"

Once again Shinji was cut off by a roaring Misato. "I don't care if you and Asuka slept together, what I'm pissed about is-"

This time Misato was cut off by the two red faced teens. "WE DID NOT SLEEP TOGETHER!!" They cried out in unison, before both looking at the other and turning away, flushed in embarrassment.

The purple haired woman merely gritted her teeth. "I don't care about what you two may, or may not have done with each other last night, what I'm pissed about... is this!" She exclaimed, pointing to the cast amount of bottles and cans that littered the floor, to this Shinji merely blinked.

"So we drank a little... It's not a big deal I mean come on! You were a teenager once, didn't you ever get drunk off your ass before it was legal?" He asked, shrugging and blowing one of his bangs out of his line of sight.

Misato nodded, though her face remained contorted in anger. "I don't care that you drank, what I care about is that you drank MY alcohol! You had no right to do that, you two went through almost an entire month's worth of pay!" She cried out, tearing up at the thought of her precious booze lost.

Asuka nearly fell over at that comment. "Are you serious! All you care about is the money? Well then we'll just pay you back!" She exclaimed, deciding that this would be over soon enough if they just paid Misato back and they wouldn't have to hear anymore of it.

"Oh no, it's not going to be that simple, obviously I've been too lax as a guardian in all ways, I've even allowed you to goof around so much your grades have fallen, or did you think I hadn't seen these report cards?" She questioned, pulling out two flash drives with the school label, instantly causing both Asuka and Shinji to cringe. "That's right, I know all about it, Shinji you failed the last two Physics tests and Asuka, you're way behind in Tech, the teacher says you aren't even making an effort!"

Shinji sighed, shaking his head. "Fine, we'll study more... it's not a big deal, take me a week... two tops to get the grade up." He muttered under his breath about "stupid physics teachers" though neither of the two women heard it.

"That's not good enough, I'm making up for my being so laid back right now! As of now you two are under house arrest!" Misato for once used a tone of authority that Shinji had not yet heard, yet Asuka seemed to know meant trouble.

"WHAT! You can't do that!" The two teens once again cried out in unison, eyes wide with disbelief.

"I can and already have set it up, you're schoolwork is being transferred here and neither of you are leaving this apartment until I say otherwise." Was the only reply given as Misato suddenly stood up, putting on her coat. "You two aren't leaving this apartment, I've already set up a list of chores on the fridge, you get one hour of television a day after your schoolwork is finished, you're going to be staying within each other's sites at all time, you're eating, breathing, and sleeping together from this point on."

Asuka's jaw dropped and she narrowed her eyes in anger. "What? Why do we have to do everything together?"

Misato pointed a single finger up, closing her eyes and speaking matter-o-factly. "Because if you two stay together it helps ensure that you can get the chores done faster, plus I can only view one of the cameras at a time so it helps if you're in the same room."

"CAMERAS?" Shinji cried out, his eyes wide. "What do you mean cameras?" He asked, double-taking.

The elder woman nodded to the two teens. "Yep, set them up in every room but the bathrooms, so if you two are gonna try anything together,you best do it in there!" Misato giggled to herself as she watched Shinji and Asuka turn redder by the second.

"You mean we have to be in the bathroom at the same time as well?"

"Yep, now both of you hand over your cells, and Shinji I want your keys." Misato stated, holding out her hand expectantly as she tapped her foot.

Slowly, both of them reached into their pockets and handed over their cell phones, cringing as Misato stuffed them in her coat pocket. She then turned to Shinji, who shook his head stubbornly. "Hand them over Shinji!" She commanded, making Asuka wince.

The brown haired boy put on a worried look. "You're not gonna drive it are you? Please tell me you're not gonna drive my bike!" He whimpered out, knowing that all was lost if Misato crashed his bike.

"Only if you don't hand the keys over this very second!" Misato commanded harshly, making Shinji sigh as he trugged over to the coat rack, fishing his jacket pockets and pulling out a small set of silver keys, tossing them to his guardian.

With a smile the elder woman grinned, catching the keys and stuffing them in her pocket. "Now today since I haven't got your schoolwork your just going to do one chore today, but tomorrow you better be ready cause you won't get as much time for rest!"

Asuka pursed her lips, frowning heavily while Shinji merely sighed. "So what do we have to do?"

* * *

"This is disgusting!" Asuka cried out, picking up yet another beer bottle and tossing it in the black trash bag she had with her, shivering at the sticky feeling left on her fingertips, letting out a whine as she shook her hand as if to just whip the sticky goo off.

The brown haired boy who was cleaning off Misato's desk nodded in agreement. "How the hell can she have gotten so much beer built up in just three weeks!" He exclaimed exasperatedly, crunching another beer can and tossing it into his own bag. "More importantly can't she clean her own damn room?"

The two had already been clearing the remnants of Misato's constant drinking binges for well over two hours, and there were still many cans and bottles alike littering their guardians room.

"Hah! In the five years I've been living with Misato she's never once cleaned up a damn thing."

Shinji glanced back at the red haired girl, teetering on a heavy decision. What he was about to ask was a major violation of an unspoken rule for those who did not live with their parents. "Hey... Asuka?"

Said girl stopped suddenly, Shinji had never once used her name ever since he had come up with he nickname. "Hmm?" She glanced back at the brown haired teen, tucking her hair out of her face.

"I was just wondering... why do you live with Misato anyway?" He turned around fully, leaning back against the dresser as he looked at her.

"W... well I don't have anywhere else to go." Was the meek reply as the girl returned to cleaning.

Shinji sighed. "But you're father is still alive."

Asuka stopping abruptly and swallowing hard. "H-how did you know that?" She asked, her hands trembling a bit as she slowly began to turn her head back again.

"Aldus Roken Soryu is a high ranking government official in Germany, working for the eastern military branch... in other words, i looked up Soryu and his name came up... sorry I was just bored during tech class..." He replied, shaking his head and going back to cleaning off the last few cans. "I shouldn't have pried, if it's anything like my situation then you just don't get along with your dad..."

The redheaded girl fiddled with the hem of her jean skirt, biting her lip. "He killed my mother."

This time Shinji was the one to halt, his eyes wide after acquiring this new bit of information. "He... killed her?"

"Not directly... there was an accident... and my mother, she couldn't think right." Asuka took a deep breath, sitting down at the edge of Misato's futon and glancing off to the side. "She was admitted into a hospital and Papa he... he had an affair with mama's doctor... and she killed herself."

It didn't take long for Shinji to find that the young girl was shaking, and that she had wiped a few stray tears from her eyes. _'She's the one who found her mother...' _He noted, seeing the way she had reacted, though as quickly as her weak state had appeared it vanished.

A pregnant silence followed, and Shinji was never one for enjoying silence, decided to break it, as well as the topic. "Hey Red, lets finish up Misato did say once we were done with her room we could have the rest of the day to ourselves, I'm sure we can find something to do here..."

The redhead immediately nodded, smiling, all traces of the dampening mood from the conversation before instantly evaporating and replaced with a resolve to finish their chore. "Right!"

It only took the two another hour and a half to finish up, having picked up all the beer cans and bottles, as well as Misato's clothes that had been left around. Asuka had been forced by Shinji to pick up most of them seeing as almost everything seemed to be a different form of lingerie, to which the redhead merely smirked.

"Phew... man i didn't know it could take so long to clean a room." Asuka rasped out, exhausted as she flopped down on Misato's futon, stretching a bit.

The dull-blue eyed boy nodded in agreement cracking his neck to the side as he leaned against the wall. "I bet you anything it'll be back to the way it was within two weeks..."

The red headed girl only shrugged. "Well hopefully we'll be able to get out of this place by then..."

Shinji smirked a bit, glancing around, wondering if he could find a bit of dirt on Misato while they were in her room, even if she did have a camera in here somewhere, he could be very discreet when he wanted to. After about a minute of searching Misato's desk and dresser surfaces, he sighed, knowing that if he opened any drawer he'd be questioned about it by the purple haired woman. Gritting his teeth, he punched the top of her desk lightly, causing a small lamp that she had on her desk to fall off and hit the floor.

"Crap!"

Asuka glanced over as Shinji fumbled with a small black lamp, hoping that he hadn't broken it. "What are you doing dummkopf?" She asked, exasperated.

The brown haired teen merely rolled his eyes. "Nothing don't worry... good it didn't break... hey what's this... black light?" He tilted his head curiously as he flicked the switch, when he turned his head toward Asuka however, his eyes bugged out, giving him the look of a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

"Shinji... what's with you? What are you looking at?" She questioned, turning her head behind her, almost immediately her look became a clone of Shinji's.

There, on the opposite wall, glowing brightly due to the effects of the black light, were numerous stains starting from the middled of the wall, which happened to be near Misato's thigh level. A trail of bright glowing stains followed down, all the way to the futon, which Asuka was currently laying down on, the largest of said stains, being about three centimeters from the redheads hand.

Slowly, Shinji shut off the black light, looking at Asuka, who met his gaze with wide, disgusted eyes.

"OH MY GOD!"

The two scrambled to their feet, rushing themselves out of their guardians room and slamming the door shut behind them.

"Wh... what the hell? When has she had a guy over here?" Asuka's voice was shaky as she shook with disbelief and disgust.

Shinji gulped, taking deep breaths as he tried to get the horrid images out of his head. "I know she's come home for lunch a few times when we were at school... there's usually a few more bottles out than before we leave... do you think that's when she...?"

Both of the teens shivered at the thought.

* * *

"That was... disturbing..." Gendo Ikari muttered, his hands folded in front of his chin as he glanced at the video monitor, his eyes clouded by the shine from his sunglasses.

"Indeed... Ryoji, Katsuragi, could you try to be more ...discreet with your relationship." Commander Fuyutsuki called out, his eye twitching in annoyance as he looked down upon the two embarrassed adults.

"Ah... sorry, though they're doing pretty well together aren't they?" Kaji chuckled through his embarrassment , rubbing the back of his neck.

Next to him Misato nodded. "Yeah, she's opening up to him about her past... and Shinji seems curious and wanting to know more about Asuka."

"Hmm... it is going well... what's the estimated arrival time of scenario two?" The elder Ikari asked, bringing up a zoomed in image of his son, his eyes narrowing in thought.

Misato glanced down at her clipboard, raising an eyebrow. "Scenario two should arrive from the United States within four weeks at the least... sir are you sure we should bring in scenario two... I mean, the project is going along better than we hoped, is it really necessary?"

"We must take in all accounts if we are to ensure the best results... we can't tell if the status of the subjects haven't changed... it's for the good of mankind." Came the strict reply, causing the two before him to sigh.

'_You mean for the good of your standing... you're pushing it Gendo.' _Kaji narrowed his eyes slightly at the man, shaking his head. "Well if that's all we'll be leaving now..." he grinned, wrapping one arm around Misato's waist, causing her to whack him over the head with her clipboard.

Gendo nodded, returning to the large monitor and studying it. "Very well, you're dismissed... and Katsuragi!"

The purple haired woman looked up. "Yes sir?"

"...Wash your sheets."

* * *

Shinji grumbled incoherently as he leaned against the doorway of Asuka's room, rolled up swim trunks in his hand. "This is ridiculous..." He muttered as Asuka rummaged through her closet.

"Oh be quiet, you didn't think I'd actually bathe with you nude did you?" She asked, finally finding her favorite red bikini and holding it to her chest as she walked out of her room, Shinji following behind her, his eyes drifting down as the fiery red head swished her hips back and forth.

"Don't flatter yourself Red, all I mean is that I'm pretty damn sure there's a law about forcing two people to bathe together!" He cried out, glancing off to the side as they made their way down the hall and towards Shinji's bathroom. _'Feh... course I didn't think that... damnit! Now I can't stop thinking about it!' _It was times like these that Shinji cursed his habit of over thinking situations, and his VERY detailed imagination.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he noticed that they had already entered his bathroom, though it was really both Shinji's and Asuka's seeing as how she seemed to use it more than he did.

"Alright, now turn around and don't you dare peek while I'm changing!" Asuka commanded, walking over toward the rather large bath, turning the water on and allowing it to begin filling up. "Now turn around."

Shinji sighed, doing as she asked and took this opportunity to change into his trunks as well. He slowly tilted his head, his eyes gazing back upon the figure of his female roommate, who had stripped down to only her panties and bra. A small smirk played on the young mans lips as he watched her slide the white cotton panties past her ankles, her bare ass wiggling a bit, almost mocking him.

"You're not peeking are you?"

Luckily the brown haired boy turned his head just in time, to avoid being caught staring by the fiery red headed girl, who looked back to check on him. "Feh, of course I'm not... geez."

Asuka pouted a bit before turning back and unclasping her bra, letting it fall to the floor. She was a bit disappointed that he hadn't been staring at her, albeit she had no idea why, but she found it as a confidence boost during the few times that she had caught Shinji staring at her in classes, or while doing homework, and here she was almost fully nude and he didn't so much as take a glance! Sighing she swiftly finished changing into her swimsuit, as she tied her top together she turned around, finding that Shinji had already finished changing into his black and red swim trunks.

"You can turn around now." She told her male companion, and he did so with only a seconds hesitation.

'_Damn...' _Seemed to be the appropriate thing that went through Shinji's mind as he took in Asuka's appearance. Sure he had seen her completely nude before, but damnit if she didn't look good in red... especially when the bikini happened to be just one or two sizes too small. Without a word he made his way over to the already filled tub, climbing in as Asuka did the same.

The large bath tub easily fit them both, being about ten feet in diameter it truly fit the description of a master bathroom. Asuka let out an appreciative sigh as she slowly submerged herself in the steaming hot water, leaning back against the edge of the tub. "So good..."

Shinji chuckled, rolling his eyes as he noted how the young girls skin simply glowed when wet. "You know... I could swear I claimed this bathroom for myself... and you use it more than me!"

Grinning Asuka merely winked at Shinji. "Well of course, I told you I wanted this bathroom, and I always get what i want!" She replied giggling a bit as she turned on the jets to the tub, moaning softly as the pressurized water worked across her back.

"Yeah, everything but a passing grade in Tech." He muttered, arching his back and rolling his neck as the water massaged his back as well.

The redhead narrowed her eyes, sitting up straighter than she had been a moment before. "Coming from the boy who can't pass physics! It's the easiest class we have!" She countered crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, but I never was good at that scientific crap... It's just so stupid." Came the stubborn reply, as Shinji ducked his head underwater, rising up a few moments later, his long, wet hair framing his face as he resurfaced.

Asuka blushed slightly at the rather attractive way Shinji looked with his hair wet, though shook her head. "Well what are you having trouble with?" She asked, tilting her head a bit.

Shinji shrugged, grabbing the shampoo Asuka had brought with her and began lathering it through his hair. "Hmm... that chapter on thermal expansion... it confuses me." He replied, scooping up some water in his hands and dumping it over himself in order to rinse out the shampoo.

The redhead gawked at him dumbfoundly as she lathered the shampoo into her own hair. "Thermal expansion? Are you kidding me, that's kid's stuff!" She cried out, laughing, which caused Shinji to blush in irritation and embarrassment as Asuka rinsed off her hair.

"Oh shut up!"

The baby blue eyed girl only smiled and gave out another small laugh. "Here, let me put it into words you'll understand. Most things get bigger when they get hotter... here." She placed her own hands over her breasts, pushing in slightly. "If I were to warm up my breasts with my hands do you think they'd get bigger or smaller?" She asked, looking back at the brown haired boy across from her, who was only giving her a blank look.

Asuka was about to ask if something was wrong, as Shinji hadn't said anything and only continued to stare blankly at her. "Hey... are you o-pfft!" The red head coughed, spitting up a bit of water that had just been splashed onto her face, unfortunately her mouth was open so consequently she had swallowed some.

Blinking in order to get the water out of her eyes, she was greeted by a smirking Shinji, who looked rather pleased with himself. "That's what you get for being a tease." He remarked, chuckling to himself as Asuka blew a wet band out of her eyes, glaring at him.

"Oh yeah?" Asuka grinned darkly, picking up a wooden back scrubber and holding it over her head threateningly. Shinji gulped as he caught the look in Asuka's eye. Instantly he had jumped up, barely dodging a playful swing as Asuka stood up herself. "Get back here!" The redhead cried out, laughing a bit as she proceeded to chase Shinji around the large tub.

"Feh not a chance Red you're gonna have to do better than th-AH!" Shinji let out a slight cry of surprise as he slipped on the wet tile, causing Asuka to bump into him. He grunted as he turned, falling on his back and hitting his head on the tile floor. "Oww..." He moaned out, his eyes fluttering open, and both teens instantly flushed once more.

Asuka had landed on top of Shinji and was currently straddling him as her breasts pressed up against his chest. Her long red hair covered the two like a veil as they continued to stare into each other's eyes.

"..."

"..."

"...Well this is awkward."

"Kinda."

Slowly, albeit a bit hesitantly the two untangled themselves, Asuka pushing herself up as Shinji sat up rubbing his head.

"You alright?"

The brown haired boy nodded, rubbing his throbbing head. "Yeah... just a bump."

Neither mentioned anything about that incident for quite a while.

* * *

It had been six days since Misato's punishment had began and the two had fallen into a rather simple routine. Chores in the morning (Though they had bluntly refused to do anymore work in Misato's room after the first day), then Misato would drop off their homework during her lunch break, smelling oddly like Kaji's cigarette brand and only slightly drunk. Then about two hours of homework before they would watch a DVD, and after that the two would take a bath before heading off to bed.

Today however, they had finished their homework early, and as consequence the movie had ended early as well, giving them plenty of time to do absolutely nothing.

Shinji himself was merely sitting with his back against the doorway of the kitchen, one headphone in as he tapped his finger to the beat his SDAT was providing. While Asuka was laying her head down on the kitchen table, pouting at how slowly the time was passing.

"Hey Shinji?"

The boy in question, pulled his headphones out of his ears and shut off his SDAT. "What?"

"You wanna kiss me?"

* * *

**AN: Well there it is my friends, thanks for reading, now review! And wait for the next chapter which I think you all will like! There was a lot more Asuka/Shinji goodness in this chapter than I had originally intended but I hope you guys liked it.**

**Once again... review!**


	5. Heated Kiss

**AN: Hey there, here's the next installment and just to let you all know, YES the story name has been changed to make it fit the story better. Now I am going to warn you all at this very moment NO Shinji and Asuka will not be having sex anytime soon, but we will see the forming of a relationship here. Nor will there be a lemon in this fic, only the mention of one (Thats what AFF is for, which this story will be posted on later) also... im not really the best at writing... erotic things.**

* * *

Shinji sighed as he leaned against the doorframe, he and Asuka had finished their homework early, as well as the movie. As a result of this neither of them really had anything to do. Hence why Asuka was laying her head down on the kitchen table, and he was listening to his SDAT. However the music flowing from his headphones did not reach his ears, as they were being drowned out by the overlapping thoughts that had been running through his head for quite a while.

The subject of his thoughts? Well that just happened to be the hot tempered, self absorbed, beautiful, sexy, bitchy, drop dead gorgeous, red haired devil that called itself Asuka Langley Soryu.

'_Asuka... Asuka... Asuka... damnit! What is it about that girl that feels so damn familiar... I even freaking searched her family history for four hours just so I could know more about her...' _The brown haired boy paled at the thought. _'Crap... I'm turning into Kaji...' _

Shaking his head, Shinji turned his head slightly to glimpse at the red haired girl. What was it about her that had him just begging to learn more. He had dealt with hot headed girls before, however for some reason Asuka was... not different exactly, but intriguing, so much so that every other thought in his head contained the German girl.

Without even thinking about it his gaze had moved from her eyes, down towards her rosy red lips, which happened to be pressed tightly together as Asuka had drifted off into her own thoughts. Unbeknownst to the fiery red head, Shinji had come daringly close to kissing those luscious lips of hers.

* * *

_It was just two nights after Misato had put the two under house arrest, and Shinji and Asuka were laying down on the futon set up for them in the living room. The red headed girl had proclaimed that Shinji better not wake her up for anything stupid and had henceforth fallen asleep._

_At first the brown haired boy hadn't thought anything of it, and continued listening to his SDAT. However suddenly he had realized that he had been staring at the sleeping girl for well over half an hour... nothing but staring at her. What the hell had happened to him, Shinji Ikari did NOT openly stare at ANYONE. It simply couldn't register in his mind as to why he always seemed to want to take in Asuka's features, her pale, creamy smooth skin, her brilliant blue eyes, that fire r_ed hair which always lingered a strawberry scent, her plump breasts, and her lusciously _red lips. Her lips... the ones that he was staring at, and couldn't seem to find the will to break away, the ones that were parted just ever so slightly in the beautiful girls' sleep. The ones that he just happened to be leaning in towards... just a few centimeters of air remained as the gap..._

"_Mama..."_

_It's amazing how one word can ruin a mood. How one word can make someone stop dead in their tracks and defer from what they were doing just moments ago. But more importantly, it's amazing how one word, just one simple word, can bring about revelations of people that you hadn't seen before. _

_And that, is just what that one word had done to Shinji, made him realize that Asuka, for all her tough talk, rough attitude, shows of strength, and undying self confidence... was just a child. Not a young girl per say, but a young woman, still blossoming and stumbling her way through the darkness. Still needing someone to lean on, still trying day by day to face the demons of her past, still someone who was struggling to not breakdown in front of others. _

_Of course, he knew that she would never admit to such things were she conscious, but lying here, asleep in the very same futon that he was in, she didn't have to. For some unbidden reason, he Shinji Ikari, knew the young redheaded girl... better than anyone else, and he liked that feeling._

_Shinji smiled lightly as he brushed a strand of hair away fro Asuka's face, then turned away from her and pulled the covers over him. Asuka Langley Soryu had shown a slight form of weakness in front of him today, something he doubted that she would show him again very soon... she would tough it out, hide it, as she was a fighter... and he respected her all the more for that._

"_Sweet dreams Red..." He muttered, shutting off his SDAT and closing his eyes, drifting off to what he knew would most likely be a very entertaining dream, starring a certain blue eyed beauty._

* * *

Asuka blinked in confusion as she sat up, looking at Shinji, who had the same blank expression on his face for the past twelve minutes. At first she had thought that he was just staring off into space, but noticed he was looking in her direction, right at her. His gaze, she noticed, did not meet her eyes and instead was focused just a little lower, with a devilish smirk she realized just where his eyes had rested.

"Hey Shinji?" She called out, hoping to catch him off guard.

Instantly, the young man seemed to break out of whatever trance he had been in just moments ago, shaking his head violently and pulling his headphones out of his ear and turned off his SDAT. "What?" He asked, his voice a few notches higher than normal, which Asuka noted immediately.

"You wanna kiss me?" The words flew out of the redheads mouth before they had truly registered in her mind, a sudden panic bell went off just a moment later. Asuka had of course been kissed before, quite a few times to be honest. The only reason that she had a sudden alarming feeling at that moment, was that she had never before been the one to invite the kiss, all other times it had been initiated by someone else, and Asuka being... well Asuka, would usually brush it off as no big deal.

Shinji's reaction however, brought a slight bit of amusement to the blue eyed beauty. The instant the words had registered in the young man's brain, he sat up completely straight, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Wh...what are you talking about?" He stammered out, shaking his head as if to clear out his thoughts.

Asuka smiled, sitting up and shrugging as if the subject were a casual topic one would have with a stranger, although under the front she had put up, her heart was pounding harder in her chest with each passing second. "You know... kiss me?"

Hesitantly, the young man stood up, arching an eyebrow in confusion. "Asuka... are you drunk or something?" He questioned, wondering if the spirits themselves were putting him through this test of will. Honestly, not a minute ago he had been fantasizing about what the red haired girl's lips would taste like, and an opportunity like this should arise, what are the odds?

Fire suddenly burned in Asuka's eyes, fueled by the one true thing she understood, anger. "What's the matter biker boy? It wouldn't be your first kiss would it?" She countered, smirking as she pushed her chair out and stood up, taking an aggressive stance as she continued to taunt her only male friend. "I've wondered why you don't make an effort to snag one of the girls at school, you can't measure up... or maybe you're ga-" She was cut off by the force of Shinji's lips crashing down upon hers, effectively silencing her from speaking further.

Muffled moans were the only thing that could be heard within the apartment as Asuka's eyes closed at the feel of Shinji's tongue slipping in between her lips, clashing against her own. With a slight hiss of pain Asuka was pushed up against the wall, and at that very moment, it became a battle for dominance.

In a sudden burst of strength, Asuka gripped Shinji's shoulders, pushing him back and causing him to fall back onto the kitchen table, their lips never once separating. For the briefest of moments, Shinji allowed himself to enjoy the sensation of the blue eyes beauties teeth grazing across his tongue, before regaining himself and gripping her wrists gently to prevent her from gaining control once again.

After what seemed like forever, Shinji slowly broke the kiss and pulled away, their lips separating with an elated sigh from Asuka. "Feh... now what... where you gonna say?" He panted out, slightly out of breath as Asuka flipped her hair back over her shoulder, still half straddling him on top of the kitchen table.

"Shut up..." Was the only reply given as the redhead took a deep breath before pressing her lips back down onto his firmly, twisting her wrists to break free from his grasp as she brought her hands down and slid them up the back of his shirt.

Grunting at the girls trick to break free, Shinji placed his hands on the table for support to push himself up, only to be forced back down as Asuka pressed her chest into him, causing her breasts to push up together, her nails raking across his stomach as she did so. Before either of them had a chance to continue however, the sound of the house phone going off caused the teens to open their eyes wide in panic as they realized just how far this could head if they continued.

In a flash the two teens tore apart to opposite sides of the room, attempting to make themselves look presentable. Shinji grunted in frustration as he tried to smoothen out his shirt. _'Guess Asuka wins... as usual, damn that girl has sharp nails.' _He noted wincing a bit as the scratches on his chest throbbed.

Asuka herself was tucking her hair back in an attempt to make it look as though she hadn't just gone through ten rounds of sex. Biting her lip, she adjusted her skirt, which had ridden up enough for Shinji to find that red thongs seemed to be in season. _'Definitely not gay... note to remember...Shinji tastes good...' _

An awkward silence followed as the phone continued to ring, with a sigh Shinji moved over to the wall, taking the phone off the receiver.

"Moshi Moshi?" Shinji spoke monotonically as he awaited for the caller to reply.

"_Hey Shinji, It's Misato, I have some good news for you two!"_

"Hmm... what?"

"Well I meant to call you two sooner but I couldn't get off work, well your schoolwork came back to me graded and you two have both improved greatly, your teacher even gave you an A plus on your thermal expansion essay!"

"Really... so what does that mean?" He asked, curious as to why Misato couldn't just wait to get home to tell them this.

"You're free!"

"We're what?" He asked, smiling in excitement.

"Off the hook, you two can go back to school tomorrow and you don't have to be in the same room at all times anymore... anyway I'm gonna taking out the cameras when I get home... which should be in about... two minutes, so just sit tight you two!" With that the line took on a dead tone, signaling that Misato had hung up.

Shrugging, the brown haired boy hung up the phone and turned to the redheaded girl, who tilted her head in question. "We're off the hook." No sooner had the words left his mouth, did Shinji have to cover his ears in order to preserve his hearing from the bloodcurdling squeal that Asuka let out.

"YES! FINALLY a shower without a swimsuit!" She cried out, pumping her fists up in the air before rushing into her room and closing the door behind her, reappearing a few moments later with a bathrobe in hand. "Don't you try and peak in on me this time!" She commanded, pointing her finger at Shinji accusingly before marching towards Shinji's bathroom.

"Feh... hey Red wait! I didn't say you could use my bathroom!" He cried out, chasing after her.

"Tough luck!" With that she entered the bathroom and slammed the door shut, the lock clicking shut not a second later, leaving Shinji in the hallway to sigh.

"Ugh... whatever... I guess I'll order a pizza or something then... damn girl..." He muttered, shaking his head as he walked back into the kitchen, grabbing the phone. "Lets see... which speed dial is it, hmm wonder why we never tried to use the house phone, eh probably the same reason we never looked for the cameras...OH SHIT!" He cried out suddenly, his eyes going wide as his face drained of all color. _'The cameras!' _He screamed in his mind as realization suddenly dawned on his face. _'Crap... If Misato goes over the tapes then... FUCK!'_

The sound of the door lock clicking open caused Shinji to turn his head towards the front door, where Misato entered a moment later with a case of beer in hand and a bag of groceries in the other. "Hey Shinji!" She greeted, smiling as she put the groceries on the table, walking over to the fridge and storing the beer.

"Ah... Misato, hey!" Shinji replied, smiling casually as he worked his way over to the older woman. "You wouldn't happen to have my keys would you?"

Grinning, Misato fished through her pockets, pulling out the keys with a slight jingle and tossing them over to the boy, who caught them and held them close to him as if they were his lifeline. "Oh and heres your cell phones... give Asuka's hers for me okay? I'm gonna grab the cameras and then go to bed..." She replied, yawning as she moved back to the fridge, popping off the panel that guarded the water dispenser to reveal a small black camera, about the size of a five hundred yen piece.

Shinji instantly became more alert. _'Man... she really went all out...' _He thought, shaking his head. "Ah... so what are you gonna do about the tapes?" He asked, gulping fearfully.

"Hmm?" Misato tilted her head, grabbing a YEBISU. "Oh I never even changed the tape cartridges at the monitor so I only ever had the first day on tape, don't worry Shinji! Your little friends at school wont see anything!" She giggled, moving past him as she popped open the can and took a swig.

The brown haired youth sighed in relief, resting against the counter as he ran his fingertips across his forehead. "Phew... thank heavens..." He whispered to himself, knowing he was in the clear.

"Oh Shinji?" The purple haired woman questioned, popping her head back in the doorway as she had just moved towards her room.

"Hmm? What is it?"

Misato pointed to her lips, giving him a wink. "You've got a glob of Asuka's sparkle lip gloss... right there." She tapped the corner of her mouth in indication.

Shinji's eyes widened as he scrambled to the smaller bathroom, opening the door and glancing in the mirror, paling at what he saw as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "DAMNIT!" He cried out, as Misato only laughed hysterically in the background.

* * *

_Asuka gasped out, her breath shallow and quick as she was pushed back up against the wall. "Sh...Shinji..." She managed to let his names float from her lips as she entangled her fingers in the brown haired boys long hair. In a flash her bra had been stripped off, Shinji running his hot tongue down her neck, his fingertips gently running up her stomach. An erotic hiss from Asuka was the response that the young man recieved as he ran his tongue between the valley of Asuka's breasts._

_Panting, the redhead let out a heated moan as Shinji's hands gripped her breasts, massaging them roughly as he continued to roll his tongue down, dipping into her navel and leaving a shining wet trail down her stomach, causing her to let out a light squeak of surprise. Her eyes gazed down as Shinji removed his hands, moving them to slowly lift up her skirt and glide his tongue over the front of her panties. "Ah...Ah... don't tease... me..."_

_Shinji only looked back up, meeting her gaze with a smirk as his fingers grasped the thin material, pulling them down in one swift motion before leaning in again..._

"ASUKA!"

The redhead was shattered out of her dream by the sound of her name being yelled out, as well as the constant pounding on the door. Breathing heavily Asuka sat up, her eyes darting around as she found herself in the large bathtub of Shinji's bathroom. _'What the... oh thats right, I fell asleep in the tub after I woke up and...' _Asuka's lips pressed together as her eyes went wide, her face flushing heavily as the images of her dream came crashing back down.

"DAMNIT ASUKA, I NEED TO TAKE A SHOWER, HURRY UP!" Shinji's voice came through the door as he continued to pound on it heavily.

Instantly Asuka barked back. "GIVE ME FIVE DAMN MINUTES!" She cried out as she tried to sit up more, though halted as she instantly became aware of the heat radiating from between her legs. "Ahh... make that fifteen..."

She only vaguely heard Shinji groan before the sounds of his footsteps faded off as he walked down the hall to another bathroom, leaving a rather flushed and hot Asuka all to herself...

* * *

Asuka fidgeted in her seat during tech class, biting gently on her thumb as she glanced over at the most confusing predicament that had ever entered her life. One Shinji Ikari, who was currently engaged in what looked to be a rather heated argument with Toji Suzuhara, a rather athletic boy who Shinji had befriended soon after meeting Kensuke.

'_What's with me... why did I dream about Shinji? The only person I've ever thought about like that was Kaji...'_ The redhead suddenly blushed as the brown haired boy suddenly turned around in his chair, meeting her gaze, instantly both turned away. It was still a bit awkward for the both of them, as neither had decided to broach the subject of their kiss last night.

Asuka was by far entirely sure that she was not romantically interested in Shinji, sexually attracted yes, but even she had to admit, he was insanely hot. The boy was practically a younger Kaji Ryoji, and any teenage girl would gush at the sight of a man like that, but honestly, she couldn't be romantically interested in him... could she?

'_I can't believe this! That idiot has me blushing every time I look at him... I should never kiss to kill time again!' _She groaned in her mind as she laid her head down on the desk, biting her lip as she tried to work out the problem in her head.

'_Shinji's the type of guy that girls would kill to have a one night stand with... hell he even has his own fan club!' _Her gaze moved over to the corner of the room where a small group of girls had huddled, giggling and smiling as they turned their eyes toward Shinji. _'And thats only a few of them... hell he's almost as popular as me in just a few weeks time!' _The redhead gritted her teeth in anger that Shinji had soon become a threat to her place as most popular in school, of course she would always be the most popular girl as almost every single boy had their eyes on her, but it was still irritating how easily Shinji had been raised up on a pedestal.

What irked her more than anything however, was that she had been reverted to just another one of those horny schoolgirls... having dreams like _THAT_. _'He's just so... so...' _Her thoughts trailed differently as she moved her head to a different angle to get a better view of Shinji. _'Shinji's... different, he's probably the only guy I've met who hasn't thought up a plan to get into my pants already... he's hot obviously, or I wouldn't even bother with him...smart, he's worth a good laugh too and he's...' _Her thoughts drifted back to the day that Shinji had brought her up to the mountaintop to watch the cities buildings rise and when he took her down to the lake. _'He's kind... and he's a really good friend... Shinji is...'_

* * *

_FLASH_

_A young Asuka curled her knees up to her chest, tears pouring from her eyes and staining her yellow sundress as she cried out in choked sobs. "It's... not fair! First Papa... leaves... then Mama, why does... everyone leave me!"_

_Frowning, a small brown haired boy wearing a pair of jeans and a white shirt walked up behind the girl, hugging her tightly as he himself had tears running down his cheeks. "I'll be here Asuka-chan... I'll always be here..."_

* * *

Present

"Asuka! Asuka, damnit wake up!"

"Ikari! Quit shaking her so much!"

"But I..."

Asuka's eyes fluttered open, the blurriness of her vision fading enough that she was able to make out a blob of messy brown hair and a black torso. "Shinji?" She questioned, trying to sit up, only to groan and clutch her head in throbbing pain.

"Ikari-san! stop messing around and lift her up, we need to get her to the nurse's office!" Hikari called out, taking on her authoritative tone, to which the brown eyed boy only nodded.

"Y...yeah right... Asuka just try and rest alright, we'll get you taken care of." Shinji spoke softly as he kneeled down, hooking his right arm under the redhead's legs and the other around her back as he slowly lifted her off the floor.

Asuka could only nod as her eyelids became heavier, closing her eyes once more and loosing consciousness as she slipped into blackness. "Kay..." She murmured

* * *

Deep in the center of NERV HQ, Gendo Ikari sat in the pitch black board room, his ever stoic expression etched onto his face as he took upon his favorite position with his hands folded in front of his face. His gaze locked onto the large monitor that took up most of the opposite wall, currently on the monitor was the image of one Asuka Langley Soryu, and one Shinji Ikari engaged in a heated battle of the tongues.

Next to the elder Ikari, stood the figure of Commander Fuyutsuki, who had his face contorted in an expression of deep thought. "Well this is a bit further than I expected them to be at this point."

Gendo nodded, his eyes narrowing a bit as the monitor began to replay the scene leading up to that point. "Indeed, the project is progressing much faster than anticipated... though it does pose a slight problem, scenario two has not yet been introduced, and it's crucial that we gather that data..."

"Should we do something about this?" Maya Ibuki asked as she sat in front of her computer station, looking back at the commander as she tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"Honestly, there's nothing to worry about, this doesn't change a thing in the progression of the project!" All eyes in the room turned towards Kaji Ryoji, who was leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk as he sat next to Misato.

"What are you talking about idiot? This is a big deal!" The purple haired woman growled out, hitting her boyfriend over the back of the head with her clipboard.

Kaji winced as he rubbed the back of his head, sitting up straight. "Damnit, would you all listen to me! Look, I practically raised the kid to be what he is today, this little make out session isn't going to speed this up."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In all the years I've known Shinji... he's never once looked at a girl like he does with Asuka, or kissed one for that matter."

The females in the room rose their eyebrows at that statement as they looked to the screen. "You mean that was his very first kiss?"

Somewhere deep inside the long ago blackened heart of Gendo Ikari, a pulse of pride coursed through him as he smirked at the image of his son. _'Nicely done...' _

Kaji smirked himself as he looked up at the screen. "Yep... but if I'm right, and I know I am, all that those two have right now is lust, nowhere near love, just one hundred percent teenage hormonal lust."

Misato grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Feh you would know wouldn't you pervert..."

"Regardless..." The strict tone of Commander Ikari took over as he tore his eyes from the screen to look at his personal computer, his eyes gazing over the screen. "Love or lust... it will serve it's purpose, if it can get the job done faster then we shall take that route. Katsuragi I need you to set up a-."

"NOW WAIT JUST A SECOND!" The purple haired woman cried out as she stared incredulously at her superior. "You can't be thinking of having me influence these two to fall deeper in before they're emotionally ready! That isn't part of the plan! They need time to..." She quieted down, her gaze traveling towards the floor as Kaji frowned a bit.

"As much as i'd love to see Shinji woo Asuka with his ways... I do think Katsuragi has a point, we can't rush this, pushing them along faster than they are ready to go could have major drawbacks for the operation... besides, we still need the data from scenario two right?" He offered suggestively, biting his lip as Misato's eyes continued to be filled with a bit of despair as she thought back to the past.

Gendo's lips pressed tighter together in thought. "True... Ibuki!"

Instantly the woman sat up straighter. "Ah, yes sir?" She asked, having been caught off guard.

"Arrange for scenario two to arrive earlier than scheduled... and I believe it's time we called Dr. Akagi...make sure it's done."

The young woman at the screen brightened a bit at the mention of her old mentor. "Yes sir!"

Gendo nodded, pleased with this. "Very well... the rest of you are dismissed!"

Misato and Kaji nodded, exiting quickly and planning to make it back to Misato's apartment for a quick lunch as well as... other things.

"You think they'll be okay?" Misato whispered out, rubbing her arm as she glanced off to the side.

Kaji sighed as they waited for the elevator. "Shinji's strong... he'll be fine, Asuka's the one I'm more worried about... if she found out there is no telling what could happen to her, she may be a fighter but she's unpredictable..."

"Lets just hope... they don't end up like us." The older man nodded in agreement as the elevator door opened, grinning a bit before wrapping his arms around his girlfriends waist and pulling her close. "KAJI! Not here!"

* * *

Shinji stayed silent, a far off look in his eyes as he entered the boys locker room. After dropping Asuka off at the nurse's office he had waited nearly half an hour before the nurse had claimed that the redhead was going to be fine and all she needed was some rest. Hikari had stayed behind to keep her friend company after being asked by Shinji to see if she could give Asuka a ride home later, after all he was pretty sure that it wasn't safe for a girl who had fainted to be riding on the back of a motorcycle the very same day.

'_Damn girl nearly gave me a heart attack... glad she's alright though... I'll pick her up some ice cream or something on the way home.' _He thought as he entered the combo to his locker, pausing as a large shadow overcast him.

Glancing back, the brown haired boy was able to confirm the identity of the person. Tai Zamanza, a rather bulk senior who had his eye on Asuka from the very second she had walked through the school doors for the very first time as he was the ringleader of the AFC (Asuka fan club), he also coincidentally happened to be the captain of the wrestling club. _'Not good...'_

"Can I help you Zamanza?" He asked, only to be shoved back into the lockers, causing him to wince as the protruding locks duck into his back. "Nnng..."

The older boy smirked as he lifted Shinji up by the collar of his jacket, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Ikari... don't think no one noticed..."

Shinji's eyes narrowed as he glared back at the larger boy. "Noticed what dumbass?" Once again he was shoved back into the lockers.

"Both you and Asuka were gone for an entire week damnit... you wanna tell us what happened?" Tai growled out, throwing Shinji to the cold concrete floor.

Shinji got to his knees, arching an eyebrow. "Us?" He questioned, though his answer soon came in the form of over twenty figures appearing on either side of him. Only one word perfectly described the situation. "...Shit."

* * *

**AN: Yays! The chapters finished, and it's the longest one yet at five thousand words! Anyway hope you guys liked it, if the kiss scene wasn't to your liking I am terribly sorry, I'm not exactly the best at romance, nor the heated stuff. So anyways the next chapter should come soon! And a big help to my friend DCL1981 your helping me get through this so much man!**

**REVIEW!!**


	6. Awakening

**AN: Finally, chapter six! This particular chapter took a little bit longer than the others considering I'm meshing a bunch of new ideas into the story in order to go with the plot as well as the fact that it's very difficult to switch between views on two different characters without going into 1st POV, which I truly despise. Well a lot of you have been wondering about scenario two and you'll just have to find out now wont you! Anyways this chapter may be a bit boring but unfortunately fillers are necessary in most stories, so I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

Dull blue eyes fluttered open as their owner groaned in pain. As his vision returned to him, Shinji attempted to sit up, only to let out a heavy cry of pain and fall back onto the uncomfortable bed he was laying on. Inhaling sharply he slowly reopened his eyes, having clenched them shut just a moment before. A confused look dawned upon the teenage boys face as he stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. "Uggh... where the hell am I?" He rasped out, his mouth incredibly dry.

"Well you're finally awake..." A soft, yet collected voice came from the other side of the room. Curious, Shinji moved his head forward just enough to catch sight of an older woman with shoulder length blonde hair. Taking a moment to examine the woman he found that she had a very well sculpted body, if the short black skirt that showed off her long pale legs was any indication. What threw him off though, was the white lab coat she was wearing over her clothes.

"A doctor... what hospital am I at?" He asked as he laid his head back, the echoing sounds of the woman's heels clicking on the tile floor reaching his ears. Glancing to the side he found her standing next to his bed, fiddling with an IV.

Smiling, the blonde woman turned back to him, leaning down and taking his left arm in her hand as she slid the needle connected to the IV into his skin. "You're at the Nerv facilities private hospital..."

Instantly, Shinji's eyes went wide, then narrowed with distaste. "Nerv... my father's company?" He grunted out, exhaling gratefully as the clear liquid being pumped into his arm began to dull the pain greatly. "Mnn... I wasn't aware that a damned psychiatric ward for the military needed a hospital."

"Nerv isn't just a psychiatric ward... it's a full blown medical operation for the military, the physically wounded as well as mentally wounded are treated here, and more of course but that isn't important right now..." The female doctor spoke nonchalantly as she turned back around, a glass of water in her hands as she lifted the brown haired boys head up just enough so he could gulp down the liquid sustenance.

With a delighted sigh Shinji pulled his lips away from the glass, his thirst quenched. "Thank you... Dr. Akagi right?" He asked, having caught a glimpse of her name tag when she had leaned over him.

With a smile the doctor nodded. "Just Ritsuko please, It's a bit unsettling to be called Akagi by the son of the commander." She replied, taking the glass back and placing it on a small desk next to the bed.

"So what the hell happened to me?" He asked, his head clearing away from the distraction of the searing pain that had now been dispersed.

"So you don't remember anything huh? I suspected as much... you were in pretty bad shape when you were found." Ritsuko concluded as she flipped pages over a clipboard. "Well as far as we can tell you had an accident going down one of the mountains on the outskirts of the city... you sustained three broken ribs, abrasion to your left leg, broken left foot... and massive head trauma as well as having your right arm broken in three places."

Wide eyed, Shinji glanced down at his right arm, finding it heavily bandaged and his chest wrapped up extremely tight with medical tape. "Why don't I have a cast on this arm?" He asked, truly befuddled as his fingers twitched.

The blonde woman stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Shinji... you've been unconscious for three weeks as of two days ago, and thats actually a good thing, thanks to the fact that you have been out of it your bones are healing quite nicely."

"WHAT?!" The startled teen shouted, attempting to climb out of the uncomfortable hospital bed, only to be gently held down by Ritsuko as the young boy couldn't keep his strength up for very long before letting out an exhausted sigh and falling back onto the bed. "What about school, damnit, and Asuka, and Misato, what happened to my bike?" He cried out, fear stricken at the thought of losing his motorcycle.

With a sigh Ritsuko readjusted the IV in Shinji's arm, tapping on it once or twice before answering his questions. "The school was notified the moment you were admitted here, your work has pretty much been dismissed although you will be behind in understanding... as for Major Katsuragi, she will be notified of your awakening very soon...your bike was repaired on orders from the commander... and your little girlfriend should be thrilled to know you haven't slipped into a coma and died." The blonde woman grinned coyly, winking at the young boy as he flushed.

"She's not my girlfriend!" He countered back, glancing off to the side as Ritsuko took on a mild look of surprise.

"Oh really, she's been trying to get in here to see you everyday since the accident, she's a bit eccentric... made such a big fuss when we had to deny her, we have a strict policy against visiting unconscious patients." Shinji noted that the doctor's lips pursed up a bit in annoyance.

"You don't deny Asuka Langley Soryu anything..." His lips curved upward in a grin as he chuckled slightly, knowing the redhead had done something to the hospital staff.

The blonde woman nodded as she signed off a few more forms after checking Shinji's vitals. "We figured that much after she keyed every car in the employee parking lot, and had my own car as well as the receptionists' car towed on the grounds that they matched a stolen vehicle report that never existed..."

The low chuckle emitting from the brown haired boys lips turned into full blown laughter. "Ha! Not bad... so how did she get away with that? Somebody had to have seen her keying the cars?"

"You'd think that wouldn't you but for some reason all of the security cameras went haywire and by the time we had them running again she was done..."

"So you have no proof huh?" Shinji grinned, inhaling deeply and moving himself up into a sitting position, still cringing from the dull pain in his ribs. "So when the hell can I get out of here?" He asked, not too thrilled at the idea of staying in a completely white room for any longer than he had too.

With a thoughtful look, Ritsuko tapped her chin with the pen she had in her hand. "Let me make a few calls, It should be fine if we release you today but you're gonna have to stay in bed as much as possible, I can't let you go back to school until you can walk properly again. For now though I'm gonna give you something to help you rest until we can settle things." She commented, an before Shinji knew it Ritsuko had already withdrew the syringe from his arm.

"Wait but I..." His voice drifted off as his vision suddenly blurred once more, his last thought still prominent in his mind as his head fell back once again onto the uncomfortable cushioning of the hospital bed. _'I never crash...'_

* * *

Gendo Ikari gritted his teeth in frustration as he sat down in his usual seat behind the board room desk. "I recieved your message just after I returned... so he's awakened then has he?" He asked, looking down at the other occupants of the room.

Ritsuko nodded as she looked over the clipboard she seemed to perpetually carry around with her. "Yes, at approximately ten twenty-seven this morning Shinji regained consciousness."

With a nod, the elder Ikari rubbed his temple with his fingers. "I leave for three weeks and something like this occurs... I suppose it's of no consequence now. Katsuragi, I want a review of the sweep from section two." He commanded, and instantly the purple haired woman stepped forward.

"According to the security tapes we were able to recover from the school hallways, the subject entered the boys locker room at fourteen-hundred hours, approximately three minutes later he was followed in by a fellow classmate Tai Zamanza, along with twenty other male students." Misato read off the report systematically as her eyes scanned over the page she was reading off of. "After fifteen minutes having seen that the subject had not exited the locker room, the reconnaissance team was sent in to investigate. The subject was found being assaulted by said boys who had entered after the subject. Instantly Section 2 took action and disposed of the seventeen boys still attacking the subject, afterwords all ties to the assaulters were silenced in various ways." She finished the report and looked back up to the commander, who gazed down at her with a curious expression.

"Disposed of seventeen? What of the other four attackers?" He asked, gazing up at the large screen in the room which housed the picture of the large mob of boys entering the locker room.

"Four of the attackers, including the ringleader Tai Zamanza were already dead by the time section two had arrived at the scene, six others were on the ground injured severely however it appears Shinji was overpowered by the remanding boys and taken down." Misato replied, a bit of disdain in her voice at the thought of the boy under her guardianship actually killing someone at such a young age.

Gendo narrowed his eyes, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "There is no video feed of this incident?" He asked, the main screen changing to live video feed of Shinji's hospital room, where the young boy was laying fast asleep. "He remembers nothing of the incident correct?"

Kaji shook his head as he stood up from his seat. "Unfortunately we weren't able to plant cameras within the locker rooms, a shame too... I would have loved to see the kid crack some skulls open." He remarked with a shrug. "I suppose we could get some images via satellite, but that could take a while."

Doctor Akagi nodded at Kaji's statement, clicking her pen as she looked over some data. "The Neural rewrite was successful, so yes he does not remember being attacked... however there are some breaks in his memories being filled, It shouldn't be too much of a problem though."

"See that we obtain the images and look further into the situation... Ritsuko, what are the results of the scans?"

The blonde haired woman once again flipped a page on her clipboard, scanning over it with her eyes quickly, yet taking in every single detail. "It's amazing sir, during the time he was unconscious Shinji's brainwaves continued to fluctuate higher than most do while at their peak of activity, and during the brief period of time when he had awoken, the readings were off the charts. The probability of the project succeeding has jumped up eight percent."

An approving grin appeared on the commanders face as he allowed himself to lean back in his chair. "Perfect... what of scenario two, it was delayed due to the incident correct?"

Maya moved from her station at her computer and nodded as she glanced over her monitor. "Correct, scenario two is currently on standby and ready to be mobilized on command."

"Have it done... I want her arrival in no less than three days..." Gendo ordered, and immediately Maya returned to her station, typing efficiently and with great speed.

"Sir?" Ritsuko questioned, causing the Commander to look up with his eyebrows raised slightly before the blonde woman continued. "What about scenario three?"

Once again, Gendo folded his hands in front of his face, giving a light hum of thought before he voiced his opinion. "First we must find the response to scenario two before we bring in scenario three to play, we'll wait for the results and then initialize at the best possible moment... Katsuragi, make sure to pick up Shinji after you leave... dismissed."

* * *

Asuka bit her bottom lip as her fingers curled around the handle of the door, with a nervous look her eyes darted left and right as if there was any chance she would be caught, when in fact she was the only person inside the apartment and she most likely would be for hours. With a sigh she threw open the door, allowing it to slam against its post and bang open, revealing the dark, empty room of her roommate. The room she had been staring at for the past three weeks every morning as if Shinji would just emerge as usual.

It was unsettling, the first time she had charged into the hospital and demanded to be allowed to see the one male who had somehow wormed his way into her life. He had gotten past her defenses on more than one occasion and even had her confessing things not even her closest friend Hikari knew. Being turned away from seeing Shinji had surfaced a constant wave of anger that had her snapping at anyone who came within ten feet of her. The most unnerving thing about the whole situation however, was that she had no idea why she was so upset. She had been assured by the blonde woman who was apparently overseeing Shinji's condition personally that he was fine and that she would notify her if any changes occurred.

Silence, that's what greeted Asuka every time she entered the apartment. She hadn't realized it but ever since the brown haired boy had arrived with Kaji from the airport, he had taken up a major portion of her daily life. When Shinji was around there was always something going on, always something for her to do, laugh about, talk about, boredom never stayed present upon the two for very long...

The young redhead blushed slightly as her mind drifted back to the last time she had been 'bored' around Shinji. There was hardly a day when their kiss didn't cross her thoughts and every time it did she found almost every ounce of blood in her body rush up to her cheeks and her heart pounding faster with every passing second. The kiss had been... hot, seemed to be the only word she could associate with what had happened that night, and she found herself wanting to kiss Shinji once again... and perhaps more. One single thought continued to ring through her head and she just couldn't seem to stop it from surfacing. _'Shinji tastes good...'_

With a violent shake of her head that caused her long red tresses to whip around her face, Asuka attempted to clear her thoughts. The blue eyed beauty stepped into the room, glancing around curiously as she had only been in here once before, but hadn't ever actually taken the opportunity to look around. She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing in Shinji's room, but she felt as if it were a chance she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she let it pass by.

Tilting her head she stopped in front of the large black case that was set off in the corner of the room. _'Aha... there it is.' _She thought with a smile as she leaned down before the case and unbuckled the three metal clasps on the side, pushing open the case with a grunt to reveal a large and regal looking cello that looked as if it belonged in a museum. _'Bingo!' _She shouted in her mind in glee. Numerous times she had pestered Shinji to play for her, but each time he had declined, claiming that he only played when certain conditions were met. This of course only infuriated the redhead, no one said no to Asuka Langley Soryu, how could he deny her? Her anger had turned into resolve to find out what was so special about the damned cello that he wouldn't play for her.

She pursed her lips in confusion when she found nothing truly out of the ordinary about the large wooden instrument. Sure it was old, and must have been incredibly expensive, but it was just the same as any other cello she had seen before. A small shine of light caught her eye and she tilted the large instrument up to find a small silver plaque on the back of the neck, arching an eyebrow she leaned in to make out the words engraved on the plaque. "What's this..."

_Shinji, _

_Play only for the ones precious to you. Live for yourself, let no one else force you to do what you don't want to... one day though, you will find someone you will want to play for. When you find that person my son, play with your heart, your soul, and never let that person go._

_Yui Ikari_

Instantly the cello was placed back in its case and the case itself closed back up and locked. Asuka glanced off to the side sheepishly as if she had been caught by someone, when in fact the only person she had been caught by was her own conscience. She was very well aware of what the inscription on the cello was, a last life lesson from a mother to her son. To make matters worse the message was practically advice on what Shinji should do when he found someone he loved.

'_Shinji's mother... she wanted him to play for someone he truly cares about... and i tried to force him to play for me...' _She hung her head guiltily and bit her bottom lip as she turned her gaze away from the cello case, trying to take her mind off of the subject.

Standing up she walked over towards Shinji's futon, sighing as she allowed herself to fall back onto the thick sheets. With a heavy sigh she stared up at the vacant ceiling. "What am I doing?" She questioned out, turning her head to lay flat against the pillow as she looked to a small bookcase on the wall. Groaning she rolled over onto her stomach, burying her face in the pillow. "It smells like Shinji..." The words flew out of her mouth before she had a chance to register them in her mind and instantly she flung herself out of the futon and backed up against the wall with an aghast look on her face. "OH MY GOD!" She cried out, wide eyed at her own actions. "I'm turning into a pervert!" She shrieked, banging her head back against the bookshelf, consequently causing numerous books as well as a few small trinkets to fall of the shelves and onto the floor.

"Verdammt!" She cursed, getting on all fours as she tried to collect all the books. Quickly she placed the books back on the shelves, hoping that Shinji wouldn't notice that they weren't in the same order as the last time he had seen them. Sighing she kneeled back down to pick up the last book, pausing as she was about to place it back on the shelf. Arching an eyebrow she noted that this seemed to be the only book that had no title on the binding, so with a curious glance she turned it over and slowly opened it up to the first page.

"This is... Shinji's journal?" Asuka asked to no one in particular, already knowing the answer as the first page was already littered with the chicken scratch that defined the brown haired boys hand writing.

She knew it was wrong of course, but the blue eyed girl just couldn't help herself from reading. In her hands was a doorway into the mind of Shinji Ikari, the boy who she had been unable to keep out of her head for more than ten minutes, the same boy who was the constant subject of her dreams, dreams that more often than not caused her to flush every time she remembered them. The boy who she had finally confirmed that she was openly attracted to... romantically as well as physically, although that had taken a while to sink in, and her mind never let her forget it, often throwing a repeating sentence into her thoughts. _'I have a crush on Shinji Ikari.' _

Sighing Asuka returned to the task at hand and with a fever she flipped the pages to the first day Shinji had arrived in Tokyo-3.

_January 2nd 2017_

_Well Kaji was ordered to return to Tokyo-3, don't know why Gendo has him moving all around the world at random times, I've never seen Kaji do any actual work... makes me wonder what the hell he actually does._

_Anyway as it turns out, Kaji wasn't being transfered, but instead promoted, and for some reason I can't tag along. So he basically dumped me off with Misato and this cute redheaded girl Asuka, oh wait correction Asuka Langley Soryu! I swear you can pretty much tell that girl thinks she's so damned superior to everyone else it's ridiculous. Then again she's got one hell of a body so i guess she does have a reason to flaunt her beauty..._

Said redheaded girl was gritting her teeth and blushing at the same time as she looked over the page. Shaking her head she flipped ahead a few pages before stopping and reading again.

_January 21st 2017_

_So apparently Kensuke and Toji have been running this photograph business for about two years, it's an underground operation known only to the boys in school. They've been selling photos of the girls in school and setting the prices based on popularity. And of course, guess who's been number one since the very first day they started Tokyo-3 High school, ding ding ding, correct the blue eyed beauty herself, Asuka Langley Soryu. _

_The damn girl has become so popular that they have a weekly print out of new pictures of her that the guys just line up for! Good thing I convinced Kensuke to halt all production and close down that business (although now five of Kaji's credit cards are completely useless because of it.) Next week was going to be the release of all the Asuka panty shots that they had collected over the years._

_There were some pretty nice pictures of her though, I've got all the negatives safely tucked away in a place Asuka will never find them... and im purposely not writing the location in here in case she ever reads this. HA!_

Blushing heavily Asuka made a silent vow to herself to skin the four eyed freak and the muscle boy alive should she ever had the chance. "I'll kill them... I swear I'm going to just rip them to-"

RING!!

The redheaded girl had no more time to dwell on how she was going to torture the two boys who had extorted her beauty for cash, nor did she have the opportunity to read anymore entries in Shinji's journal as the loud ring of the house phone echoed throughout the apartment. Sighing, the blue eyed girl placed the journal back on the bookshelf, deciding she would come back for it later as she made her way into the kitchen.

Growling in annoyance as the phone persisted to ring with its annoying tone that Misato had picked out personally, Asuka snatched the phone off the receiver angrily. "What!" She snapped, upset that the person calling had interrupted her from her snooping.

"Feh, well thats a nice way to greet someone who you haven't seen in three weeks." The shock she recieved from hearing the amused voice answer her was enough to make Asuka drop the phone.

* * *

Shinji stared at his cellphone, raising an eyebrow in question as the line suddenly went dead after he had just finished speaking his first sentence. "She hung up on me!" He exclaimed with a bit of surprise as he looked over to Misato in the drivers seat as she veered through traffic.

The purple haired woman only rolled her eyes as she tilted her sunglasses down. "You really don't know anything about girls do you Shinji? Calling her was a stupid move, you should have just waited until we got home, honestly three minutes of not talking to your girlfriend wouldn't kill you."

"What the hell are you talking about, and for the last damn time me and Asuka are not dating!" He cried out, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"I swear Shinji, sometimes you're even more clueless than Kaji..."

Blinking, the brown haired boy rolled his eyes. "I was raised by him ya know... and while we're on that subject, where is the bastard? I know you've been seeing him Misato!" He proclaimed, pointing a finger at her accusingly with his good hand.

Instantly Misato cringed, narrowly avoiding a semi truck as she drifted into the parking lot of their apartment building. "Oh what do ya know! We're here!" She cried out, chuckling nervously as she hopped out of her car.

Shinji only grumbled as he opened his door, getting out and only cringing slightly as his left foot connected with the cement. Sure most of his injuries had healed but he was incredibly sore and he still had trouble moving his right arm, although that was still bandaged. He paused in the parking lot however, when he saw his bike parked off to the side, shining much brighter than normal and he noted that several parts had been replaced. "Hmm..."

A few minutes later he and Misato were standing directly in front of their apartment. Taking a deep breath, Shinji slid his keycard into the door. _'Moment of truth...' _He thought as the door swiftly slid open to reveal... the same empty hallway that they had always seen when they entered the apartment.

"Asuka!?" The brown haired boy called out, walking through the hallway and knocking on the door to said girls room. "You there?" When no response came he turned back to his current guardian. "Think she took off?" He asked, a bit put down by the thought, although he wasn't exactly sure why, he had expected the red head to be there to greet him when he returned.

Misato only shrugged, although the look on her face showed that she was a bit surprised as well as she walked over to the refrigerator to grab a beer.

With a sigh, Shinji made his way into his room, only to emerge again a moment later with a towel in hand. "Whatever... I'm gonna take a bath, I smell like hospital." He joked, chuckling a bit before limping out of view of the kitchen and towards his bathroom.

No sooner had Shinji closed the door to his bathroom, was he suddenly tackled around the middle by a red blur, causing him to stumble back a bit, but luckily not fall. Cringing he looked down, finding Asuka's face buried into his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

"A... Asuka, ribs... broken!" He rasped out, sighing in relief when the grip the redhead had on him loosened but she still stayed close to him, her gaze moving up to meet his eyes.

"You idiot!" She finally said as she straightened up, meeting his level and Shinji noted that her eyes seemed to be a bit red, indicating that she had been crying albeit only slightly. "What the hell were you thinking! Do you have any idea how worried I was! Don't you ever crash again!"

Shinji stared wide eyed at the blue eyed beauty standing before him, smiling slightly. "I'm sorry Red... didn't mean to make you worry..."

Asuka shook her head violently, her bangs whipping around her face. "Of course I was going to worry... you're my friend dummkopf!" She smiled a bit at that and hugged him again once more, this time much more gently before she pulled away.

Letting out a breath Shinji didn't know he'd been holding, he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. "We'll talk later... I need to take a bath alright?" He moved past her and attempted to take off his shirt, only to find it a bit more difficult than normal as he couldn't move his right arm well. He blinked in confusion as the shirt was lifted up over his head from behind, looking back he saw Asuka standing there with a blush on her face.

"I'll help... wash your back." She muttered, looking off to the side as her blush stayed present.

"Ah... I no it's alright I can do it..." Shinji replied, a bit dumbstruck by Asuka wanting to help him out.

"Idiot!" The blue eyed girl cried out, rolling her eyes. "You're hurt, someone has to make sure you don't hurt yourself further." The blushing girl was gone now and replaced by the normal quick tempered girl Shinji had become accustomed too.

"Fine... thanks." Shinji replied as Asuka turned around, giving him time to disrobe and securely wrap the towel around his waist before getting into the tub that had already been conveniently filled.

Yet again another incident that would not be spoken of for quite a while occurred between the two that day.

* * *

Another week and a half had past and Shinji's wounds had healed quite nicely. Finally he was able to walk without limping every five seconds and Misato had cleared with Ritsuko that he was allowed to return to school. This of course delighted Shinji to no end as he was becoming increasingly agitated at having to stay in the small apartment all day while Asuka went to school.

"Finally!" Shinji cried out, smirking as he parked his motorcycle, Asuka hopping off the back and pulling her helmet off with a smile. Shinji adjusted his jacket and boots before straightening up and pulling off his helmet

"Heh, you were a little slow going down the main strip... you barely broke eighty!" She stuck her tongue out at him as the brown haired boy only scowled.

"You've been riding my bike over eighty then huh?" He asked, buckling his helmet to his book bag as he began walking towards the main building of the school.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't want your baby getting rusty on you." She winked playfully as she fell in step next to Shinji. While normally most of the school would have been paying note to the fact that Shinji had finally returned, (his accident having made the news and thus become instant gossip) however at the moment the attention was back to wear it usually was, Asuka.

Or rather, Asuka's body as it was being shown off in a very tight pink shirt that rose up a few inches above her bare midriff, and her very tight jean shorts that swished along with her hips with every step she took, this of course causing every male to fall over trying to get a glimpse of her ass.

"Feh... well I have to thank you... that outfit is taking the attention off of me... although you're getting an awful lot of stares." Shinji remarked with a bitter taste in his mouth at all the guys drooling over the girl, when in fact during breakfast he couldn't tear his eyes away from his roommate either.

A wry grin spread across the blue eyed beauties lips as the two made their way through main hallway. "Heh, well when you have a body like mine... you should let the world bask in the beauty it radiates!"

Rolling his eyes the brown haired boy gave a low chuckle. "Feh, whatever... so anything new I should know about here?" He asked, mildly curious as he glanced over at Asuka.

Pursing her lips the redhead nodded. "Well there is this new girl who started four days ago... she's in our class, her names-" She paused however when she noted that Shinji had stopped walking, curious, she turned around, finding her roommate being held around the waist by a dainty pair of hands from behind.

"Shinji-kun! It's been a long time!" A delighted voice giggled out from behind the previously injured boy, causing him to turn around and widen his eyes in shock as he took in the features of girl with dark mahogany red, shoulder length hair.

"MANA!"

* * *

Elsewhere, back at Nerv headquarters, Gendo Ikari sat at his desk, looking through some files busily.

"Sir?" Maya Ibuki questioned out, causing the commander to look up from his paperwork.

"What is it?" He barked back irritably, causing the woman to flinch before answering.

"Scenario Two has begun."

"...Excellent."

* * *

**AN: Tada, there you all have it, chapter six is complete! I'm truly sorry if any of you are disappointed with it but hey i tried. Anyway I want to know all of your guys' opinions! And if you don't know who Mana is, then you're just going to have to resign to the fact that you are not a true EVA fan and should probably google her name.**

**As always REVIEW!!**


	7. A pictures worth a thousand words

**AN: This chapter was a bit difficult to write... I kept debating on whether or not to add a few things, hence why it took much longer than usual to update. Anyway we are beginning to wind down some major questions, and the plot is soon to come together. A lot of you were surprised at Mana's appearance, and no unfortunately for the Mana-haters, she will not be totally bashed on... well maybe a little.**

* * *

Asuka grit her teeth together as she watched the new girl throw her arms around Shinji's neck from behind and press her chest into him, this of course causing said young man to blush slightly as he turned his head back to get a better view of the girl. "Mana!"

The girl merely giggled as she hopped off of Shinji, smiling brightly. "You're still so cute Shinji-kun!" Mana practically squealed in delight before clinging to the brown haired boy as he turned around, staring wide-eyed at the girl.

"What the hell are you doing here Mana?" Shinji questioned as he stepped back from the girl, taking in her appearance. She was wearing an average sailor style girls uniform with green trimmings, the optional school uniform that was provided when one enrolled.

Mana only smiled as the bell rang loud throughout the halls, not a second later a massive sea of students eager to not be labeled tardy came through the halls, forcing everyone who didn't want to be trampled to high tail it to their classes.

A few moments later everyone had filed into their respective classrooms, it was only after a few moments that Shinji noticed that the empty seat to the right of him had been filled, by a certain brown eyed girl. Blinking, Shinji turned his head slightly to the right to find that Mana was staring straight back at him. Turning back around to face Asuka, he noted that her eyes were narrowed dangerously, Shinji knew that look, it was similar to the one Asuka threw at him when she was on her period. _'Oh boy... what the hell did I do now?' _

Thus it continued much like that for the rest of the day, it was with a slight annoyance that Shinji found Mana to be in almost every single one of his classes. It wasn't until physics class that he found her in a different class than his.

"So, just how do you know that new girl anyway?"

Asuka's head shot up a bit as she turned her gaze in the direction the question had come from, a sparkle in her eyes that meant she was indeed interested to know the answer as well, albeit no one noticed her leaning in more towards Shinji to hear better.

Shinji looked up from his textbook, finding himself face to face with Kensuke, who had just adjusted his glasses after staring Shinji down. "Mana?" He questioned, rubbing the back of his neck.

Eagerly, the bespectacled boy nodded, propping his elbows up on Shinji's desk expectantly as he turned his chair around to face his friend. "Yeah, I mean she was all over you earlier in the halls, what's the deal."

Chuckling, the brown haired boy shrugged, indicating he honestly had no idea why Mana insisted on clinging to him. "She's always been a little... affectionate, as for how I know her." He paused, sitting up straighter before he decided to continue. "Two years ago, my former guardian decided we needed to get out of the states and visit Japan for a bit. So we decided to stay in Okinawa for a summer, great beaches there by the way. Anyway, so I'm out scuba diving during my first week there and out of the blue I see a girl, who turned out to be Mana get caught up in a current and hit her head on a rock..."

* * *

_Shinji's eyes widened as he saw the blood float up in the water, from what he could tell it was gushing from the back of the brown haired girls' head. Swiftly he maneuvered through the water, catching the girl before she could float down towards the rocks where she was likely to be ripped to shreds due to the currents._

_Her eyes flew toward him, alerting the brown haired boy that she was very much conciouss and was most likely only in shock from hitting the rock so hard. In one motion he ripped the mask from his face and pressed it to the young girls lips, immediately she gasped, a look of relief overcoming her as he oxygen flowed into her lungs._

_Not twenty seconds later the two resurfaced, Shinji helping the girl limp her way towards the beach. The second her feet hit dry sand, she fell forward onto the sand and rolled onto her back, breathing heavily as she smiled at her savior. "What's your name?" She asked, smiling lightly._

_Slightly taken aback by the question, as it wasn't one he had expected, rather than call an ambulance or something along those lines, Shinji smiled a bit. "Shinji Ikari... you alright?"_

"_My names Mana Kirishima... and I'm fine now... thanks to you, Shinji-kun." The brown haired girl replied, smiling warmly as she sat up and kissed Shinji on the cheek gratefully to which he blushed a bit in surprise._

* * *

Asuka had been mulling over her own thoughts in silence for the rest of that period after Shinji had finished telling the story, she was just as distracted in German class. Which was quite odd, because normally even if she was having a problem, she did not hesitate to put it to the back of her mind and show off her excellent speaking skills in her native tongue. Her silence did not go unnoticed either, as Shinji would often sneak a few glances towards his housemate every few minutes, a look of confusion and a bit of worry on his face.

'_So they're just old friends... and Shinji did save her life, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to befriend someone who saves the.' _Asuka pondered as she stood up from her desk, systematically making her way towards the girls locker room (actually an unused classroom), as the bell had just sounded.

'_That doesn't mean she has the right to just jump onto his back every time she sees him though!' _Her natural rage swelled up again as her eyes caught sight of Mana latching onto the brown haired boy's arm in the main hallway right in front of the boys locker room. After a moment however, Shinji seemed to pull away and motion that he needed to go change.

It was then that Asuka realized that mana had their P.E. class as well. Slowly, a feral grin spread across the red haired girls lips, as this week the girls were playing dodgeball while the boys ran track. "Wunderbar..."

Asuka practically skipped the rest of the way down the hallway into the classroom, a smirk on her face at the thought of blowing off a little steam on the brown haired hussy hanging all over Shinji. Her grin only faded once she actually entered the classroom, meeting the gaze of Mana, who was only half dressed, much like the other girls already inside. Frowning only slightly before putting on a stoic face, Asuka walked over towards the lockers placed on the far side of the classroom in the opposite side of the window.

"It's so unfair... the boys get their own locker room while we have to change in this stupid classroom!" The redhead commented as she threw open her locker, causing it to send an echoing slam throughout the room.

"Well the locker rooms are mainly used by the school teams, and there are more boy teams than girls so it does make sense..." Hikari commented as she took up the locker next to Asuka, thankfully the one that hadn't been dented due to the redheads slight show of anger.

Sighing, the blue eyed girl began stripping off the tight pink shirt she had on, revealing a tight red bra that concealed her breasts. "Well yeah, but still, it's annoying changing in the classroom..."

Hikari was about to respond when a loud shriek filled the air. "EEEEK A PERVERT!" One of the girls screamed, pointing out the window and up towards the classroom on the opposite side.

Instantly every girl in the classroom began covering up, whether it be covering their chests with their arms, or doing what Mana had and thrown their shirts on quickly. Asuka however, narrowed her eyes as she stomped over towards the window, leering up at the spot the other girl had pointed.

A shadowed silhouette became visible and looked panicked as it began packing up the large camera it had been pointing through the windows in order to catch snapshots of the girls in various states of undress. "It's the four eyed stooge!" She exclaimed, gritting her teeth in anger.

"Aida-san!?" Hikari questioned as she popped her head up behind the desk she had used as cover. "That little... oh when the principle hears about this he'll-"

She was cut off by Asuka, who had held up a hand to silence the girl. "I have a better idea... hold on a second." She smirked as she reached into her pocket, pulling out her cellphone and pressing the speaker button before flipping through her contacts and pressed send.

The rest of the girls in the class watched Asuka curiously as the sound of ringing came from the redheads phone.

"_Asuka, what is it, I'm in the middle of changing!"_ Shinji's voice came through and echoed a bit.

"Well so were we, until that four eyed freak decided to try and take pictures of us all changing!" Asuka retorted, placing one hand on her hip, which thankfully was still covered by her jean shorts, lest the whole school find out about the see through fabric that were barely passable as panties, that she wore.

A loud groan could be heard from the other end of the phone. _"Alright, I'll get him... where is he?"_

"Classroom opposite of the girls changing room." Came the instant reply as Asuka moved out of view of the window and threw on her P.E. shirt.

"_Kay, I'm on my way... want a special delivery or do you want me to take care of it?"_

Grinning the blue eyed beauty shook her head as she slid off her jeans and grabbed a pair of P.E. shorts. "Just make sure the lesson gets through, and break that stupid camera of his, oh and leave the phone on, I wanna hear this!"

"_Feh, fine... gimme a minute, I'm almost at the classroom... geez couldn't this wait till I at least finished changing... damn Kensuke I told him not to try this again... Toji guard the door would ya?" _Shinji grumbled a bit before he recieved an affirmative from the boy, which the girls all heard.

Many of the girls made their way over to the window and watched as the light suddenly flickered on in the classroom opposite of them. Instantly Kensuke popped up like a frightened rabbit as the door was swung open, revealing a shirtless and rather miffed Shinji.

"Shinji-kun has been working out..." Mana commented with a dreamy look, causing Asuka to throw a glare at the back of the girls head. All the girls turned to gather around Asuka's phone which had been placed on one of the desk so all could hear the events about to take place.

"_Ah Shinji! I was just um... I-" _The cowering, and nasally voice of one Kensuke Aida came through the speakers of the phone.

"_Save it... I told you what would happen if you did this again, lucky for you I'm not going to turn you into Asuka..." _A sigh of relief was heard before Shinji continued. _"So I'll just kick your ass real quick and then get back to class."_

"_WHAT!" _

_BAM!_

A loud crash erupted from the speakers and the girls all looked up to the classroom to see a desk fly through the air and hit the wall. To Asuka's dismay however, the two boys weren't visible from the angle they could see.

"_OWWW! COME ON SHINJI EASE UP, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY REQUESTS I'VE HAD FOR PICTURES OF ASUKA AND THE NEW GIRL TOGETHER!!"_

"_Oh shut up, It's either you or me and damnit Asuka hits hard, now hold still!"_

_WHACK_

"_Aha! Got it!" _A triumphant cry in the form of Shinji's voice sounded out from the phone.

"_NO MY CAMERA, DON'T!!" _The decimal level at which the bespectacled boy was crying out caused many of the girls to cringe and cover their ears as they watched the window of the classroom Kensuke and Shinji were in open up. A grinning Shinji stepped into the light, holding up a silver, and rather expensive looking camera. In one swift motion, the film was ripped out of the camera and set aflame courtesy of Shinji's lighter, not a second later the silver camera was dropped from the second story, falling to the ground and hitting the concrete with a notable crash.

"_NOOOOOOO!"_

_THWAP_

A slight ruffling sound was heard before Shinji's voice came back on. _"Alright, he's taking a little nap now..."_

Smiling Asuka picked up the phone, holding it out expectantly as she looked to the other girls in class.

"THANK YOU SHINJI!" Came the grateful chorus from all the girls in the room.

"_Ah, not a problem... have fun playing dodgeball girls." _The brown haired boy replied, the amused smile evident in his voice before the line went dead, signaling that the boy had hung up.

Slowly the girls returned to changing, and Asuka was positively beaming over the control she had over Shinji. A tap on the red haired girls shoulder caused her to turn to the side, where a half dressed Mana was currently putting on her P.E. shorts. "You know Shinji-kun pretty well huh?" The brown eyed girl asked, her eyebrows raised a bit in question.

"Yes... why do you ask?" The red haired girl asked, turning around and placing her hands on her hips.

Mana only smiled a bit and shook her head. "I was just saying... I mean, you have Shinji-kun's cell phone number he didn't even give me his number." She remarked, glancing off to the side. "And we were real close too."

Asuka had to fight back the urge to strangle the young girl before her, and instead settled on merely leering at Mana. "Apparently not close enough."

Instantly the cheery and happy-go-lucky appearance that Mana gave off faded, and was replaced by a feeling all women, especially Asuka knew, anger. "You like Shinji-kun don't you?"

The question was one she herself had been asking, and had come up with numerous answers. Yes, of course being the primary one, however for the sake of appearances and her own insecurities... "WHAT, of course not, me and that idiot are just friends, nothing more!" She barked back, closing her locker with a little more force than she intended.

"Oh!" The brown haired girl brightened at that, smiling happily. "Good, I was worried someone else was going to ask him out!" With that she turned around, putting her things in her locker and exiting the classroom.

Narrowed eyes followed Mana out of the classroom, a low growl emitting from their owner. "Hikari!" Asuka called out, causing the freckled girl to jump in surprise at the fierceness in her friends voice. "When we play dodgeball... she's mine."

* * *

Two pairs of narrowed eyes sparked as they met each others gaze, sparkling sea blue, and the other a dark chocolate brown. An incredibly primal instinct took over the two figures, an instinct seen between two lionesses when crossing upon the same prey... the instinct to fight for ones prey. And at this moment, Shinji felt very much like he was about to be ripped to shreds courtesy of the two women who had flanked both sides of him, or rather pulled apart, seeing as both Asuka and Mana had taken it upon themselves to cling to one of the brown haired boys' arms and tug, hard.

'_Geez what is with these two... they've been at each others throats' all day!' _Shinji noted as he continued to be pulled apart like a wish bone. The three were currently standing in the middle of the parking lot, while Kensuke (who had woken up about a half hour after being knocked out, albeit with a major headache) and Toji watched with mild amusement.

"Come on Shinji-kun, lets go to the park, we have so much to catch up on!" The mahogany haired girl cooed as she laced her fingers with Shinji's and began pulling him right, in the opposite direction of his motorcycle. The girl was actually sporting a rather nasty bruise on her neck, courtesy of a certain fiery redhead and a well aimed dodgeball.

A hard pull from his left courtesy of Asuka was enough to gain both Mana and Shinji's attention. "Actually, Shinji promised to be my ride home today, remember Shinji?" The sickly sweet tone she used, combined with the death glare sent in Mana's direction was a dead giveaway that Asuka wanted to leave... now.

Sighing, the brown haired boy gave a nod and managed to detangle himself from Mana's grasp. "She is right Mana, sorry but I am Asuka's ride... some other time." He offered, missing the scowl that crossed over the girls face as he did so.

"Tomorrow?" The brown eyed girl asked hopefully, clasping her hands together behind her back.

"To...morrow..." A far off look appeared on Shinji's face as he glanced off towards the mountains surrounding the city, a gust of wind rising up suddenly, causing his long hair to whip around his face. "No... I have something I have to take care of tomorrow, but we'll work something out alright?" With that he turned around and began making his way towards his motorcycle. "Asuka, let's go."

The redhead snapped from her inconspicuous glare war with Mana to find Shinji already getting on his bike and fastening his helmet. With a grin, Asuka ran over towards the bike, sticking her tongue out at Mana before putting on her helmet and jumping on the back, wrapping her arms around Shinji's waist as he revved the bike up and took off.

It was barely noticeable to anyone, at least anyone without such experience, but Shinji was going quite a bit slower than normal. Due to the fact that she constantly rode with the brown haired boy, Asuka did notice, and it puzzled her. Shinji appreciated above all things about his bike, the sheer speed it could accomplish, hell his favorite thing to say about his bike when asked if he was worried about speeding was always 'Well, the police can't catch what they can't see'.

"Baka, what the hell are you doing!" The blue eyed girl cried out, smacking Shinji on the back of his helmet as he pulled to a sudden stop in front of a small flower shop on the corner of a four way intersection, he had stopped so abruptly that they had almost been bowled over by a passing semi truck.

Taking off his helmet, Shinji swung his left leg over and hopped off the motorcycle. "Can you wait here a minute Asuka, I need to take care of something alright?" With that he jogged into the shop and closed the door behind him before the redhead even had a chance to respond.

Quietly, the young girl watched as Shinji walked up to the older woman at the counter and handed her a small note, to which the woman smiled warmly at and nodded as the brown haired boy handed her a stack of bills. It was times like these that Asuka Langley Soryu wished she had the ability to read lips. _'Why is Shinji buying flowers?' _

In all honesty it didn't take that long for the blue eyed beauty to figure it out. All of a sudden Shinji was buying flowers, coincidentally after the new girl Mana shows up, who was apparently an old friend of the boy, only one logical conclusion came to mind. The flowers were for one Mana Kirishima, whether or not there was some romantic meaning behind the flowers, or if it was a gesture of seeing an old friend, Asuka did not know. But she did know one thing, seeing Shinji buy flowers for another girl... hurt, it made her chest tighten up and a subtle anger rise up in her.

She had no more time to dwell on the subject as Shinji reemerged suddenly and mounted the bike, smiling slightly. "Sorry about that... just had to place an order." He commented absentmindedly as he buckled his helmet.

"Order huh?" Asuka grumbled, throwing a suspicious glance toward her male companion. "Who are the flowers for?"

Shinji only grinned as he turned back around, lifting his helmet up a bit before responding. "Someone very special to me..."

* * *

"This isn't good... " Gendo Ikari remarked as he looked upon the numerous graphs on the large screen in the darkened room.

"Probability of the project being successful in scenario one has dropped by four percent, scenario two is only at nine percent." Ritsuko Akagi remarked as she chewed on the cap of her pen, frowning at the results on the screen. "Asuka's emotions have been greatly affected by Mana's appearance... perhaps it was a mistake to introduce scenario two so soon."

"You oughtn't have introduced scenario two at all!" All heads turned to Kaji, who was rubbing his temples exhaustedly. "Mana is an eccentric girl, but in the end you're going to find the same thing I already know. She and Shinji are better off friends, love triangles never end well people!" The gruff man sighed heavily, shaking his head in distaste.

To the mans left, Misato nodded in agreement. "I think we're forcing this way too much, we can't just have them get so close together, and then suddenly introduce a new girl out of the blue! Shinji and Asuka were really coming along together, this could completely destroy the relationship that they're building!"

"Their relationship has nothing to do with this, so long as the desired result is achieved." The elder Ikari's cold and harsh tone could not have been more apparent as he narrowed his eyes at the purple haired woman.

CRACK!

The clipboard that Misato had been holding was cracked in half as she slammed it down on the corner of the nearest desk in a fit of anger. "What the hell are you talking about! They're relationship has everything to do with this! We've put those kids through too much damnit, they deserve to get something out of this!" She screamed out, causing everyone in the room, save for Gendo, to flinch slightly.

As stoic as ever, Gendo merely pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Katsuragi... if I were you I would avoid another outburst again... remedy the situation, we need those percentage points back up, it takes top priority... dismissed."

Begrudgingly, Misato marched out of the room, closely followed by Kaji, who had to run to keep up with her in the long hallways of Nerv HQ. "You really need to control your anger Misato... you know what Gendo is capable of, he could have you taken out just for looking at him wrong." He remarked, frowning slightly as he fell into step next to the rather pissed off woman.

The narrow eyed glare Misato sent in Kaji's direction caused the man to gulp nervously. "Don't you think I know that! But we're playing god here Kaji! Asuka and Shinji have been through so much, you already told me Shinji fell into seclusion, and I've been worried about Asuka for years! If they find out about what we've been doing, they'll fall over the edge..." Sh paused, looking genuinely worried as she stepped into the main elevator, her eyes cast toward the ground as Kaji stepped in and the doors closed.

"Don't you think I know that?" The older man replied, pressing a button on the wall of the elevator. "Shinji's more of a son to me than anything... and Asuka is a good girl, we've put them through hell, for the love of god we ripped those two apart as kids and had their minds warped!"

"I don't like this Kaji... eventually they will find out, there is no way we can keep this quiet eventually they'll..." She stopped however, when the elevator suddenly stopped, puzzled, the purple haired woman looked up at the dial mechanism above the door, finding them stopped a few floors from the surface. "What the?"

The doors slid open and Kaji stepped out, holding up two fingers and motioned for Misato to follow. "Come on... I think it's time you find out what's really going on here, keep quiet."

A long walk down a seemingly never ending hallway was incredibly eery to the woman, and she only felt a worse sense of dread when they reached the end, a large steel plated door.

"The real purpose behind this project is something bigger than what you were first told... Nerv is hiding something from you, and this is it!" He cried out, taking out a red key card and swiping it through the scanner. A moment later the doors slid open with a pressurized release, the sight behind said doors, caused the purple haired woman to widen her eyes in horror.

"What the... what is this!?"

* * *

Asuka yawned softly as she exited the bathroom, having just finished off her morning shower and drying her hair with a clean towel. Stretching a bit, the red headed girl wrapped the towel around herself and fastened it before stepping out into the hallway and walking towards her room to change.

"Hmm?" She stopped halfway, when she noticed Shinji standing in the kitchen and chewing on a piece of toast. While normally such a thing would not stop her, today she noted that the brown haired boy had forgone his normal attire and instead dawned upon something new.

A sleeveless, black button up shirt with a blood red tie covered his torso, a pair of black pants and rather than his normal combat boots, a nicer and polished looking pair covered his feet. Hanging off the bridge of his nose rather nice looking black sunglasses shielded his eyes from the light. On the table was a small bouquet with several roses as well as numerous purple statice flowers.

"Are you going on a date or something?" The blue eyed girl asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion as well as a bit of jealousy. _'Those must be the flowers he ordered yesterday...'_

Shinji jumped a bit, coming out of his own thoughts and tilting his head towards his housemate. "Huh... ah no, just going somewhere... you wanna come with me?" He questioned after a moment of thought.

"Well where are we going... and what about school?" Asuka countered, frowning a bit as she stared down the brown haired boy accusingly.

Grinning, Shinji only shook his head. "Somewhere you should dress nice... and when the hell have I ever indicated that I gave a damn about school, we're ditching today." He stated with a matter-of-fact tone, putting his hair back into its normal ponytail.

The blue eyed beauty hesitated, biting her lip for a moment before replying. "Fine, but we better not going anywhere stupid..." She warned, making her way down the hallway and into her room.

"Oh, and Misato let me borrow the jaguar, so you can wear one of your dresses if you want!" Shinji called out as Asuka entered her room, shutting the door behind her.

'_Something nice...' _The redhead quirked her lips up as she stepped up to her closet, opening up the door and letting the towel fall to the ground. Quickly, she grabbed a simple white bra and a pair of panties, throwing them on as she went through the numerous outfits hanging on the rack. Smiling slightly, her eyes fell upon her single favorite piece of clothing that she owned.

A few moments later Asuka's door reopened, and Shinji made his way over toward the hallway, the keys to Misato's red sports car in hand. When Asuka stepped out from her doorway however, he had no choice but to stop and take in the picture.A floral yellow sundress draped over the red haired girls figure, of course Asuka was always beautiful, but this was the first time he had truly seen the girls elegant, and innocent beauty.

'_Yellow sundress...'_ Shaking his head, the dull blue eyed boy smiled a bit as his eyes met Asuka's. "You look nice... come on, I don't wanna hit traffic."

* * *

'_So this is what the flowers were for...' _Asuka spoke out in her mind as she folded her hands in front of her, bowing her head in respect as Shinji laid the bouquet down on the ground, lighting up the incense that had been placed on a small platform.

The brown haired boy stood up and stepped back into place beside his female companion. "Sorry I didn't tell you where we were going... and I'm sorry I'm kind of introducing you out of the blue like this."

Asuka shook her head violently. "No... It's fine, so this is really..." She trailed off as her eyes trailed upon the grave stone in front of her. Shinji had brought her all the way to Tokyo-2, to the main graveyard for military personnel.

"Indeed, this is the final resting place of Yui Ikari."

The blue eyed beauty jumped in surprise at the new voice coming from behind them, though Shinji merely scowled and narrowed his eyes in anger. Turning, Asuka found a taller, bearded man standing behind them, a pair of orange sunglasses covering his eyes and an expensive looking suit adorning him.

"Father..." The one word that slipped from Shinji's lips caused Asuka to look at the man wide eyed. This man... was the father of Shinji Ikari? He seemed much colder than his son, and she had just gathered that conclusion by his tone of voice as well as his posture, solid and unwavering.

"It's been a long time since we've both been here like this..." The elder Ikari spoke solemnly, his eyes drifting from his son over to the young woman he was with. "Asuka Langley Soryu, correct?"

Asuka could only nod her head at the man, unknowingly taking a gulp in slight fear, the man was incredibly intimidating.

"It's been five years since I was last here... Asuka, we're leaving." Shinji announced, taking his sunglasses out of his pocket and putting them on. Silently, he turned toward the main gates of the cemetery, only to stop when a large hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Shinji..." Gendo pulled out a small envelope from his coat pocket, handing it to his son before he himself turned away, in the direction of a large helicopter pad put off for use of high ranking officers.

Without even looking through the contents of the envelope, Shinji nodded and began walking down the road toward the gates. Asuka followed behind him feeling as if she had missed something very important. "That's your father... he seemed so... cold." She muttered out, taking a glance back as said man was still standing in front of the grave of his late wife.

"You have no idea..." The young teen finally replied as they made it to the red jaguar that stood out among all the black BMW's in the small parking lot. Pausing, Shinji pulled the envelope back out of his pocket and opened it, his eyes widening at the contents. "I though he said...heh, hypocrite..." The brown haired boy let loose a low chuckle before tossing the envelope onto the dashboard and climbing into the drivers seat.

Curiously, the red haired girl took her place in the passengers seat, grabbing the envelope and opening it up. Her fingers gripped a small rectangular piece of paper, slowly she pulled it out, finding a picture of a woman with shoulder length, yet flowing brown hair. In the woman's arms was a young sleeping child with a small patch of brown hair coming out of its head.

"The only remaining picture of my mother..." Shinji commented as he caught Asuka gazing at the paper, before putting the car in gear and taking off.

* * *

**Well finally!! That chapter was such a pain to write. Sorry if it wasn't to your liking, I don't exactly like the way it turned out either, but some of it was necessary, next chapter should be better. Anyway I'm off!!**

**READ AND REVIEW EVERYBODY!!**


	8. Only in Kyoto

**AN: This chapter took way longer than I would have liked and it didn't turn out at all like I had hoped for it to, but unfortunately that is the way the cookie crumbles. But some good news... it's beginning, the moment you have anticipated is coming... just read.**

* * *

The next few weeks passed by rather slowly, much to Shinji's dismay. The young teen had no idea why, but for some unfathomable reason whenever he was around Asuka and Mana at the same time, he felt very much like a piece of meat thrown in between two rabid dogs. However for the moment, he had pushed the uneasy feeling out of his mind and allowed himself to enjoy the class field trip that had been set up.

"WOOHOO!" Came the energetic cry from the only person who was truly awake in the airport, Kensuke Aida. For some ungodly reason the spectacled boy was bright and chipper at four-thirty in the damned morning, while everyone else either were half asleep, or merely going through the physical motions while their minds took a vacation.

'_I swear, if I have to sit next to Kensuke on the plane... I'll kill him, I'll open the fucking door and toss him out in flight... fucking morning people...' _A wry grin formed on Shinji's face as he thought about the many ways he would destroy the peppy upbeat bastard. He, along with the rest of the students in class that had been allowed to go on the trip, were finally through waiting in the main lobby for their plane to arrive and were slowly filing onto the boarding dock to the plane.

"Alright! This is the old vintage model plane, one of the commercial transport planes that survived second impact, it's a-" The freckled, brown haired boy was cut off as the back of his shirt was grabbed and he was retched back, a choking sound coming from his throat as he looked back to see the dark face of Asuka.

"I'm going to say this once... shut the hell up, or I will personally rip your balls off, with my bare hands... UNDERSTAND!" There was no mistaking in her tone of voice that the redhead would indeed follow through with the threat should the dork even try and defy her. A quick, fearful nod followed and Asuka dropped Kensuke to the ground, where he scrambled back to his feet and fell back in line next to Toji.

"Alright...everyone!" It was obvious that not even the supervising teacher was fully awake yet, as she herself was yawning quite often. "Mm... I want you all to get to your assigned seats, no switching seats!" The command caused only a few groans, as most of the students were too damn tired to care at all and would most likely sleep the entire trip.

It was only at that last comment that Asuka's head perked up a bit and she glanced over at Hikari who was following her down the aisle towards their seats. "Did you...?" The question was left unfinished as the freckled girl immediately nodded, making Asuka crack a small smile as she glanced down at her ticket. **Row D Seat 1**. "Hey Shinji, what seat do you have?" She called out as she took her designated seat, smiling as she already knew the answer.

The brown haired boy, who had just downed what appeared to be a full can of an energy drink, glanced don at his ticket stub as he rubbed his eyes. "Row D, Seat two... well it appears that I get to sit next to my favorite girl in the whole wide world." He joked, smirking a bit as he noted that he was in the middle of Hikari and Asuka. _'Damn girl plans everything...' _He commented in his mind as he maneuvered past Hikari and into his seat next to Asuka, who was merely grinning innocently.

"Well you should count your good fortune then, a whole plane ride next to the most beautiful girl in the world." The blue eyed beauty commented with a playful wink as the plane slowly began to move, and the seatbelt light above cam on, indicating that anyone who was not in the mood to fall flat on their asses better buckle up.

"So what do you plan on doing when we get to Kyoto?" Hikari asked, smiling as she leaned forward a bit in her seat to get a better view of both Asuka and Shinji.

"I've gotta hit the Kiyomizu Stage, last time I was in Kyoto I didn't have any time at all to sightsee... I swear Kaji and his stupid business life..." Shinji replied, stretching a bit as a small amount of shaking overcame them all as the plane took off the runway.

It wasn't until after the plane was safely in the air and the slight turbulence stopped that Asuka replied. "Well I've got plans to hit the Otowa waterfall shrine, plus Kyoto has some of the best hot spring resorts... wonder which one we're staying...at..." The redheaded girl yawned heavily and shook her head in an attempt to wake herself up.

"Won't matter if you're asleep the whole time... go to sleep I'll wake you up when we land." The blue eyed boy told her, handing her the pillow that had been placed on his chair before they boarded. Without even replying, Asuka nodded and took the pillow, placing it behind her head and closing her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

"Man... she must have been tired as hell..." The young man voiced a few moments after he was sure his friend was completely asleep. "Usually takes her an hour to fall asleep."

"Oh? What do you two sleep in the same room over at Misato's?" Hikari asked in a hushed voice, raising an eyebrow at Shinji.

Smiling the young man shook his head. "No of course not we have our own rooms and... ah crap... how did you find out?" He questioned, turning to the freckled girl with a bit of dread, wondering just how she knew that he and Asuka lived together.

A smile was present on Hikari's lips as she leaned back into her chair. "I am Class Rep you know, I have my ways..."

"Asuka told you?" He deadpanned, causing Hikari to nod.

"Yep... she is my best friend you know, I do spend time with her when you don't, besides I was wondering why I suddenly couldn't sleep over at her place anymore." She replied, taking a bottle water from the cart as it came down the small aisle of the plane. "Want one?" She offered, grabbing another bottle and handing it over to Shinji.

"Thanks I-huh?" Shinji stopped, feeling a sudden weight on his right shoulder, offering a sidewise glance he found that Asuka's head had slipped off the pillow and she was now resting peacefully on his shoulder. "She's shivering... Hikari grab my bag would you?"

Blinking, the young girl nodded and fished under Shinji's seat, grabbing hold of the large duffle bag and hoisted it up. "What do you need?"

"Here hand it over..." He whispered, careful not to wake the sleeping beauty on his shoulder with his voice. Carefully he maneuvered as Hikari handed over the bag, unzipping it and pulling out a rather large and thick black blanket, draping it around Asuka, ceasing her shivering spell.

"Hmm... so when are you gonna tell Asuka you love her?" The question almost made Shinji fall out of his chair, the only thing stopping him from doing so was the wrath he would incur should Asuka be awoken prematurely.

"What the hell are you talking about!" He cried out in a panicked, yet hushed voice, his eyes wide as he looked to Hikari, trying desperately to fight the blood from rushing to his cheeks.

Hikari grinned a bit, a satisfied look on her face for getting such a reaction out of her best friends' crush. "You heard me, it's totally obvious that you like her Shinji... I mean come on you two are hardly ever not together... and I'm pretty sure Asuka likes you too... but you've gotta get your act together!"

"Get my act together... what?"

"Mana you jerk!" She growled out in a warning tone, causing the brown haired boy to flinch a bit. "Can't you tell that Asuka and Mana don't like each other, I swear boys are so dense at times!"

"Of course I know they don't like each other..." He replied, rubbing his shoulders. "They play wishbone with my damn arms every time they see each other, and I'm not so dense to notice certain things..." The brown haired boy grinned darkly, casting a glance a few rows up, where Toji was seated next to Hikari along with Mana. "So while we're on the subject... what about you and Suzuhara?"

Hikari blushed ten shades of red at the comment, her eyes wide as her mouth fumbled to form coherent words. Even Asuka did not know about her crush on the jock, yet somehow Shinji had found out on his own. "H...h...how did you-?"

"Feh... don't go criticizing about other peoples love life Class Rep, not until you can approach Toji yourself." When he recieved no response, Shinji gave Hikari a look, finding her oddly silent as she looked down. "Look... what you're doing right now, making extra lunches since he forgets his all the time, assigning him the easier chores at class, thats all subtle and good... but with a thickheaded guy like Toji you have to be more... direct."

"How am I supposed to do that?" The freckled girl asked, biting her lip slightly.

A shrug was the only reply Shinji provided her with. "Hell if I know... we can figure it out later... probably better if you ask Asuka about that stuff... for now just get a little sleep, you look just as tired as the rest of us." He commented, reaching over Asuka and grabbing the rest of the blanket, offering it to Hikari as it was large enough that it could cover all three of them with room to spare.

Nodding, Hikari covered herself with the blanket, raising an eyebrow as Shinji pulled out his SDAT. "Aren't you going to sleep too? Asuka told me you were up all night with Kensuke on the computer doing some plan?"

"I don't sleep on airplanes." He replied quickly, eager to change the subject as he put his headphones into his ears. "I'll wake you when we land." And with that he pressed play, not even allowing himself to enjoy his favorite song until he knew that both girls beside him were asleep. _'I can't have Asuka knowing about that...can't let anyone know...'_

* * *

"Haha, man this is awesome, Kyoto's such an amazing place!" Kensuke cried out, his video camera pressed up against his eye as he recorded every possible thing in sight. "There's so much history here, did you know back in the Meiji Era tha-"

"FOR THE LAST TIME WE DON'T CARE!!"

Shinji sighed as Kensuke was pelted over the head with whatever the students happened to have on them at the time. Curiously he took a good look around the platform the group was now standing on, a large shrine entrance with a wooden roof and three streams of water flowing down into a small pond below. "Moron... hmm, so this is that Otowa waterfall, what's so special about it, I mean it can hardly be called a waterfall?" He asked as he turned to Asuka, who like Hikari flanked his left side, while Mana took his right.

"You don't know, this shrine is famous with women for predicting love!" Hikari stated matter of factly, pointing one finger up in the air.

Blinking Shinji watched as several of the giddy girls in class made their way over to the farthest waterfall to the left and catch the water in the provided cups, drinking from them a moment later before bursting into giggle fits. "Really... so how does it work?"

This time Mana was the one to respond, dragging Shinji by the arm up to where the wooden cups were stored. "Well from the right the streams represent health, wisdom, and true love, depending on which one you drink from you'll be granted luck from the streams!"

Instantly the brown haired girl ran over to the left stream, drinking eagerly with a grin. Gritting her teeth, Asuka followed up behind Shinji, taking her own cup. "Geez she's so ditzy... how can you be friends with a girl like that?"

Shinji smiled and shrugged as he made his way over to the farthest right stream, filling his cup and drinking down the water in one gulp. "Ah... health's always a good thing to have... what about you Asuka, which stream for you?" He asked, as he glanced over at his blue eyed friend, who jumped up a bit in response.

"Hmm... oh well I guess health is good." She replied, stepping forward and holding out her cup to the stream.

"Alright everyone!" The teachers voice called out, causing everyone to turn around and look at the sensei, who was holding out a map of the city. Instantly the redheaded girl dumped the cup out and moved over to the love waterfall, filling her glass up and downing it before Shinji had time to look back. "From here on out today you're on your own time, just be sure to meet back at the resort at seven o clock!"

"HAI SENSEI!!" Instantly the crowd of students parted, moving faster than anyone had seen them move before, leaving only Shinji, Asuka, Hikari, Mana, and Toji standing alone... Kensuke being on the floor having taken a rather hard hit to the head earlier.

"Wow... well we have some free time so what do you guys wanna do?" He asked, turning around to find Kensuke up off the floor in what seemed like a spring of energy.

"Well there's an arcade here that I've been dying to check out." Toji answered, scratching his cheek in thought.

"I'm with you there!" Kensuke cried out, pumping his fists in the air.

"I want to go see the Big Buddha statue!" The cry came from Hikari, who was a bit more chipper than the rest for some reason.

"Temple of the Golden Pavilion!" Mana's reply was more dreamy and starry eyed than anything else.

"I wanted to go see what they have at the street shops..." Asuka whined, crossing her arms over her chest as she took on her normal pouting position as she gave Shinji the dreaded puppy dog eyes that always forced him to give in to the blue eyed beauties demands.

Frowning, the brown haired boy looked over the map provided by their sensei upon their arrival. "Hmm, all the places we want to hit are way too separated, no way we could see them all before we have to go back to the resort... how bout we split up, hit our favorite spots, and then meet up at the Cinema Village at three for lunch?"

The look that dawned every persons face made it obvious that they did not really wish to split up, yet clearly wanted to go see their choice destinations more than anything else. "Fine, three right?" Asuka proclaimed, practically skipping down the stairs.

Nodding, everyone else agreed to the decision and dispersed. "See ya at three!" And so they left, until Shinji was the only one left still standing at the waterfall shrine.

"Well, guess I'll go hit the Kiyomizu Stage..." He muttered to himself as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, making his way towards his destination, rubbing his eyes tiredly. However before he even made it four feet his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, blinking, he pulled it out and glanced down at the number appearing on the small screen. "Hikari... what does she want?" Shrugging, he pressed the send button and brought it to his ear. "Class Rep what's up?"

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT!?"

* * *

Asuka sighed heavily as she walked down the crowded streets, her eyes scanning over the many kimonos in the windows of the street shops. _'This is so boring without anybody else to shop with... I wonder what Shinji's doing...he seemed so tired earlier.' _The redheaded girl's train of thought halted as her vision grazed over a flash of red in the window of a nearby shop. Instantly she made her way over, pressing her cheeks up against the window as she stared at the object that had caught her attention. "It's beautiful..."

A red silk kimono laid down on the display case, the branches of a cherry blossom tree in bloom layered over from the hem of the kimono up to the mid thigh. Along the sleeves falling petals seemed to twirl as the light bounced off the fine shining fabric, at the waist a simple black sash laid prominent. Eagerly, the young girl checked the price tag laid to the side of the elegant clothing, and instantly, her dreamy smile fell.

"Thats way out of my price range..." She muttered disappointedly, frowning and giving off a sigh.

"Well it's not out of mine, so get it." The voice behind her caused the fiery girl to jump up in surprise, whirling around she came face to face with a rather amused Shinji. "Didn't figure you were the kimono type, planning on wearing it to the upcoming festival?"

"Don't sneak up on me like that you jerk! What the hell are you doing here anyway, I thought you said you would be at the stage?" Asuka demanded, a suspicious look on her face as she narrowed her eyes at the boy.

"The street was blocked off, some car accident or something... so I figured that you'd like some company and that without me all your shopping dreams would be completely ruined." He smirked as he glanced back at the kimono, speaking in a heavy dramatic. "It's your nature to find the most extravagant,most expensive looking thing possible and crave for it... so I thought you may require my... services." He grinned at the last word, flipping out a credit card and twirling it between his fingertips.

"So, you're going to buy it for me, my dear sweet Shinji?" She cooed in a flirtatious voice, batting her eyelashes much like she had when she had first introduced herself to the brown haired boy.

Chuckling, the brown haired boy nodded, motioning with two fingers for Asuka to follow him as he made his way into the small shop. Grinning, Asuka entered the shop behind Shinji, her hands clasped behind her back as she bounced up and down on her heels with glee.

"Oh my, can I help you two?" The shopkeeper asked from her position behind the counter, she was a fairly older woman, seemingly in her early forties.

"The kimono in the display case, can I have it delivered to the Geimani Hot Spring resort three days from now?" Shinji requested, laying his credit card down on the counter, which the woman took a few seconds later.

"Ah of course, a gift for your lovely young girlfriend here, perhaps I should throw in a wedding kimono as well?" The elderly woman stiffled a delighted giggle with her mouth as the two teens turned red at her statement.

Not thirty minutes later the two bolted out of the store, shades of red that could make a tomato jealous. "Geez, why is it that everyone always assumes we are sleeping together damnit!?" Asuka whispered to her male companion, still blushing hard from the woman's comment that was made while she was being fitted for the kimono size, about how she could help with some ideas to make... certain activities more enjoyable for the both of them.

"Well the fact that we do live together doesn't make that any less believable..." Shinji muttered, maneuvering through the now growing crowd of people walking down the market street. "Gah, damnit come on, we're not gonna get anywhere, head up these steps." He cried out after being bumped into for the thirteenth time within twenty seconds, grabbing Asuka by the hand and pulling her along towards the side of the street, where a large flight of stone steps led up to a rather large bamboo forest.

"What the hell was that crowd, they all showed up out of nowhere!" Asuka cried out, dusting off her skirt as she looked down the seemingly endless lane of stone, every ten feet shrine gates stood prominent along the road. "What's this?"

Glancing around Shinji spotted a small sign by the top of the steps, curiously he bent down, his eyes scanning over the wooden sign. "Path of one thousand gates, looks like it was built after the second impact... apparently its a mile long path, and runs just past the resort at one point." He recited off the page, standing up and moving back over to the redheaded girl. "You up for a little walk?" He didn't even wait for her answer, merely stuffed his hands in his pockets and began walking down the long path.

"Why do you wanna walk a full mile back to the resort, we're supposed to meet Hikari and the others at the cinema village in a half hour?" The blue eyed girl called out racing up to catch up with Shinji when he didn't stop.

" Well you know we haven't been alone together for a while... besides I'd rather not have you and Mana ripping my arms off when we sit to eat." Shinji paused when Asuka went silent, biting her lip as she had a habit of doing. "You really don't like her do you, why not?"

"Shinji I, the reason I fight with her so much... it's... I really li-"

"So come on... we have a long walk ahead of...wuh..." He cut her off, though a second later he suddenly halted, his eyes dilating as he swayed to the left, his feet caving out from under him as he fell to the ground not a moment later, his head banging against the cobblestone path.

"SHINJI!" Asuka screamed out, rushing over to the boys side and grabbing him by the shoulders, shaking him. "Shinji, what's wrong, snap out of it Shinji?" She cried out, her eyes filled with worry as she lifted his head up, brushing his long bangs away from his face and revealing that his eyes were indeed open, yet he was not conciouss. _'No... please, oh god no, not him too... please...please...'_

"SHINJI!!"

* * *

_Shinji spun around frantically, his eyes narrowed in the darkness as he tried desperately to gain his bearings. "Where the hell am I, what's going on here?" He screamed out, his voice echoing in the abyss. _

_Gritting his teeth, the young man began running in a random direction,w anting nothing more than to explain the darkness. Suddenly a flicker of light appeared to the left of him, instantly he whirled his vision blurry as he attempted to adjust to the new light. Slowly the darkness began to collect, as if a magnetic force were pulling it towards the light... and a moment later a bright flash overcame him, throwing him back several feet. _

_With a grunt, he landed on his back, wincing in pain before his eyes flickered open. The darkness that had been dominant not ten seconds ago was now gone, replaced by a sea of emptiness, only white._

"_Gessshhhh..."_

_Shinji's eyes widened, shaking a bit as he slowly turned around, coming face to face with the source of the loud sound just a second ago. A large, purple and green monstrosity... a mechanical beast that loomed over him by a good hundred and fifty feet. It's eyelids snapped open, revealing a pair of glowing blood red eyes. Before the brown haired boy even had time to react the machine reached out with its large mechanical arms, capturing him within his iron grip, literally._

"_No, damnit let me go!" He cried out, fighting with all his might to break loose, stopping as the beast suddenly let out an inhumane roar, its mighty jaws opening wide, revealing indeed what had happened to the darkness... it had been turned into the belly of this beast. Slowly the beast brought its head down upon Shinji, its razor sharp teeth gleaming as it began to close its mouth. _

"_NO, NO, NO!! GAH!"_

Shinji's eyes flew open, panting heavily as the sweat streamed down his face, in fact his entire body was covered in sweat. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the ceiling, taking note of where he was. _'The resort... how did I get here?'_ Grunting, he attempted to sit up, only to find that the weight pressing down on his chest was not allowing him to do so. Tilting his head downward he was greeted with a bush of fire red hair obscuring his view, a small smile grew on his lips as he found that Asuka was laying her head down on his chest, her eyes closed in a blissful sleep as her lips parted slightly with every breath she took.

"Asuka... come on Red, wake up." He whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. This action of course, made the dull blue eyed boy smirk, he would definitely have to remember that reaction.

"Mmmnn..." Asuka moaned softly, burying her face into Shinji's chest. "Five more minutes..." Her baby blue eyes suddenlty snapped open and she sat up abruptly, causing Shinji to blink in surprise at how quick she had moved. "Shinji! You're awake!"

Smirking, the brown haired boy sat up, stretching a bit. "Yeah, that's generally what happens, you go to sleep, wake up... how did we get here anyway... last thing I remember was that stone path..." He murmured, rubbing the back of his head.

"You don't remember?" The redhead looked at him incredulously, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You got up about ten seconds later Shinji... but you were acting all... weird, you didn't even say a word you just got up and walked all the way here and then you collapsed on your bed... you really can't remember?"

Frowning, Shinji narrowed his eyes, glancing off to the side. _'Blacked out again... what's going on here?' _A moment later he smiled, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "Nope, probably just from my lack of sleep... been having nightmares lately, I'll be fine... did you watch over me the whole time I was asleep?"

Caught off guard, Asuka blushed a bit. "Well... for a few hours then I fell asleep." She muttered sheepishly, glancing off to the side.

"No one knows about me passing out then right?" He asked, to which the redhead immediately nodded.

"I didn't think you'd like getting sent to the hospital on the school trip... so I didn't tell the sensei..."

Shinji smirked a bit, letting out a small laugh as he ran his fingers through his chocolate brown tresses. "Thanks... I owe you one Asuka..."

"Don't mention it... I'm gonna go to the hot springs before everyone else gets here, it's less enjoyable when it's crowded." She stood up, making her way toward the door, halting when she heard Shinji's voice.

"Youwanttogotothefestivalwithme?" He blurted out, instantly cringing a second later and smacking his forehead.

Asuka whirled around, her eyes a bit wider than normal. "What did you say?"

Gulping, Shinji began waving his hands frantically in front of his body. "Ah well... the festival is in three days... and uh, well it's kinda frowned upon going alone and i didn't really wanna ask Mana, so I-" He was cut off completely when Asuka pressed her finger to his lips, making him blush a bit in surprise.

A cheshire grin formed on Asuka's lips as she winked at Shinji. "So... you're asking me out on a date huh?" She stepped back, smiling as she placed her finger to her chin in thought. "Well I guess I could go... but that's such a hassle, getting ready for a date... then there's the questions from all the girls... sorry Shinji, but I'm just gonna have to say-"

"Forget it!" Shinji cried out, shaking his head violently. "Don't even worry about it, it was a stupid idea, I just thought tha maybe you'd like t-" He was cut off again but this time by something much more pleasant.

A soft, and warm feeling caused Shinji to close his eyes as Asuka pressed her lips to his. The kiss before had been hot, and wanting, full of lust... but this one was different, a much more gentle and caring feeling was put into this one. Neither knew when it had occurred, but the small, gentle kiss soon turned into a make out session. Shinji laying on his back on the futon, while Asuka entwined her fingertips in his hair as she straddled the young mans waist. Asuka moaned softly against Shinji's lips as his fingertips danced up the back of her spine, her breathing becoming more shallow as she raked her teeth gently over his tongue. A certain hardness pressing up against her leg caused Asuka to let out a small squeak of surprise, making the two seperate their lips for the first time in what seemed like hours.

Panting, dull blue eyes met baby blue, Shinji's hands gliding out from under Asuka's shirt and resting on her hip. "That a ...yes then?" He asked, smirking a bit later as Asuka slapped him on the shoulder.

"Of course it's a yes you baka..." And with that, she crashed her lips down upon his again, her hand running teasingly over the growing bulge in his jeans.

Suddenly the door to the room opened, causing both of the teens to widen their eyes in surprise and pull their lips away, jerking their heads toward the doorway.

Mana, Hikari, Toji, and Kensuke stared with wide eyes at the scene before themselves. None saying a single word as the minutes passed by, finally Kensuke broke the pregnant silence and spoke for the entire group.

"Damn."

* * *

**AN: Yay! It's done! Man I have been waiting for this moment, and I bet the rest of you guys have been as well. Anyway I hope you guys were satisfied with this chapter. Look out for a Poll on my profile page about this site, it should be up soon!!**


	9. Relationships and Revelations

**AN: I know, I know. It's been a few months but unfortunately my little vacation didn't give me the inspiration that I wanted. Well anyway the typing of this chapter has been incredibly slow and painful, and it shows. I'm not gonna lie. I hate how this chapter turned out and I wish I could change it, but I'm too lazy to. However on the plus side, this chapter has finally given me not only my first fanfic to reach the forty thousand word market, but also the high status of being on one of the two pages of forty thousand word plus stories under the Asuka/Shinji romance section. Yay me!**

* * *

Mitsumoto and Shizune considered themselves adequate teachers, while Mitsumoto was stern and strict, Shizune was lenient yet well composed though scary when pissed, thus creating a good combination between the two which was why they were chosen as the chaperones for the school trip. They were one of the few teachers who were allowed the choice of teaching what year of students they wanted, which meant they were able to follow their students through the years and get to know them very well.

It was well known that out of all the girls in her class, Shizune-sensei favored Asuka out of all the others, mainly for the young girls individuality and fiery spirit. The redhead was a born leader, as demonstrated when she singlehandedly convinced the student body as well as staff of the school to abolish the mandatory school uniform just last year. More often than not Asuka was brought up as an exceptional student during meetings, although her attendance had dropped a bit since the arrival of the new student Shinji Ikari.

Thus it was a great surprise to both teachers when they entered the resort, finding a large crowd of rowdy students gathered by the room in which Shinji Ikari and his two make friends were staying. Both teachers knew exactly what was occurring when the cheers turned to hisses of sympathetic pain and cries of betting... a fight was occurring between two of their students. What they did not expect however, was the two people fighting when they approached the circled crowd.

Asuka tackled Mana to the ground after being scratched by the girl's nails for the umpteenth time. "Bitch!" Asuka cried out as Mana stood back up again, the mahogany haired girl wiping her lips as a bit of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, a small wound, (As well as a very nice black eye) given to her courtesy of Asuka's fist.

About that time Mitsumoto moved behind Mana, pulling her away while Shizune went to restrain Asuka. Both teachers found it surprisingly difficult to keep the girls held in place as they struggled to try and claw at each other once more. "Nng, Ikari! You're obviously involved in all of this, come help me, everyone else OUT!!" Shizune barked, loosing her grip on the pissed off redhead.

Shinji, who had been standing off to the side to watch the fight along with everyone else nodded, making his way over towards Asuka, who was panting heavily as she glared at the object of her anger for the past few weeks. "You okay Asuka?" He asked, running his fingers at the base of her neck, where a series of diagonal slices from Mana's nails was prominent.

"There she goes again! You hussy, how dare you draw Shinji-kun in like that!" Mana screamed, fury obviously burning behind her eyes as she attempted to lash out at the redhead again.

Darting her eyes away from Mana for only the briefest of moments, the redhead nodded towards her new boyfriend, blue eyes softer than they were just a few moments ago, before she returned right back to giving the evil eye to the girl opposite of her. "Fine... unlike some little bitch who I'm going to rip apart, think you can call me a hussy and get away with it?!" She yelled, struggling against Shizune's grip once more.

"HEY! Cut it out!" Shizune ordered, pulling the young girl back roughly. "Mitsumoto take Mana and Asuka to the health commissioner, meanwhile I think Ikari here will be able to answer a few questions for me!" The elder woman commented with a jerk on the back of Shinji's shirt.

"ACK!" Shinji let out a choked cry as his collar was tugged back, watching as Mitsumoto hauled the two girls out of the room and into the hallway, albeit kicking and screaming. Not a moment later, he was forcefully put in place on a small sitting mat.

"Now... Shinji Ikari..." The way the elder woman hissed out his name as if it were a curse upon her lips made the young boy gulp and shiver. Shinji knew of course, that the female teacher was very much displeased with the way he had supposedly been 'corrupting' her favorite student, and although on school grounds she had treated him with the same courtesy she gave to all her students, out in Kyoto was not on school grounds and therefore... "Just what kind of a sick twisted game are you playing with Asuka?"

The brown haired boy blinked in shock, of all the questions and statements he had been prepared to be berated with, he had not expected that. "What?" He questioned, giving her a confused look.

"You heard me, I want to know why you're doing this to Asuka?" The older woman accused, her voice raising in anger as she stared down the young boy in front of her. "You're making her miss school, ditch classes, and now getting her into fights, what's your goal?!"

Instantly Shinji slammed his fist down on the floor, the wood beneath the tatami mat could be heard cracking and shattering from the force. "Now wait just a damn minute! You think I'm manipulating Asuka for my own needs?"

"Naturally." Came the simple and monotone reply.

"BULLSHIT!" He shouted, rising to his feet in anger and frustration. "Everything Asuka's done with me until now has been her own choice, who the hell are you to question why we're together!?"

The brown haired woman glowered at the confession. "So she's lowered herself to dating you now? What kind of dirt do you have on her?" She yelled back, standing up and taking on an authoritative pose.

That was it, the last straw. "FUCK YOU!" The dull blue eyed boy retorted, moving past his now least favorite teacher and toward the hallway door. "I don't need this shit from Mana and you _Shizune-sensei_." He spat out her title with the same tone she had used with his name just moments earlier, gripping the handle on the sliding door and throwing it open as he made to leave.

"You're beneath a girl like her... she was better off before you came along. She'll realize that one day." The words sliced through him like daggers at his heart, and Shinji, for some odd reason was almost compelled to look back. Was he really bringing Asuka down? What if he wasn't good enough for her, and she suddenly just decided to leave him?

Scoffing and turning his head to the side, the brown haired boy walked out into the hall, raising his middle finger over his shoulder without so much as looking back at the newly appointed bitch-sensei. Hell, he and Asuka hadn't even been officially going out for an hour and already problems had come up. _'What a damn foolish woman... as if I could force Asuka to do anything she didn't want.'_ So with that one act of defiance, he shoved his worries behind him, and out of his mind.

No sooner had he slammed the door, had Shizune whipped her cellphone out. "It's me... things aren't the way you told me they would be... this needs to be rectified."

* * *

Asuka let out a relaxed and pleasant sigh as she slid into the luke warm water of the resort's hot springs. Today, for all it's faults, had quickly and indefinitely become one of the best days of her life. She had gotten an expensive and incredibly beautiful kimono, been asked by the boy she was infatuated with to be his date to the festival in three days, and had all but fully consummated her relationship with him, and as a sweet extra bonus she had been able to beat the shit out of Mana (who was now transferred to another group for the remainder of the school trip and not aloud to be near Asuka). Yes, today had been a truly great and glorious day indeed.

However, in spite of all that had happened, several things were now worrying her. The first and foremost on her mind was Shinji's blackout earlier. _'It's not normal for people just to fall over like that... and his eyes when he got up and walked to the resort... they were so lifeless, he's always been in perfect health so what's wrong with him?' _Sighing, the redheaded beauty dunked her head underwater and swimming around for a few moments before reemerging, deciding ultimately that she would just have to cast her worry about his health to the side for the time being.

As she rose up from the water, she began to ponder about her second problem. Just how was she going to style her hair for her date with Shinji, more importantly what seducing tactics was she going to use this time? _'Hmm, Shinji always did like them.' _She though as she stared down at her prominent chest. With a smile she turned toward a medium sized mirror that had been placed on the dividing hot spring wall, covering the symmetrical and fleshy mounds with her hands. Putting on a small smile, the redheaded beauty folded her hands in her lap and leaned forward, her arms pressing her large breasts together, creating quite the sight for anyone who would have walked into the girl's hot springs right about now, and as luck would have it, someone did.

"What are you doing Asuka?" Hikari asked, standing above her best friend with a confused look on her face. The freckled girl watched in surprise as Asuka jumped up in shock from being spotted during her activities and fall back into the water, popping back up a moment later.

"H-hikari! What are you doing sneaking up on me like that, scared me half to death!" The blue eyed girl cried out, blushing with embarrassment as the other girl climbed into the water, giving her a knowing and slightly amused look.

"Practicing for Shinji?" The question was so straightforward and so unlike the normal shy, innocent, sweet Hikari that Asuka was used to that she could only stutter at her friends audacity.

"N-no! Just what the hell are you doing here anyway Hikari, I thought you were going to wait to take your bath!" Asuka accused, strategically deflecting the subject away from her and Shinji's newly formed relationship. While she was completely happy that they were finally together, and would gladly shout it out to the world, the redhead wasn't entirely prepared to discuss the terms of their relationship, even with her best friend.

Recognition dawned on Hikari's face as she suddenly recalled what she had sought Asuka out for in the first place. A sudden rush of blood to the shy girls cheeks made her friend instantly curious as to just what this was about. "Ah... I just, I wanted to ask you about... I mean-"

"She wants to ask you about how she can snag Toji Suzuhara." Both girls whipped their gazes toward the bamboo wall that separated the boys and girls bathing areas, only to find that a good portion of the bamboo sticks had been pulled back, revealing a smirking and completely nude Shinji submerged from the waist down. "Yo." Was the only word he could get out before a towel slapped him in the face, effectively covering his eyes and blocking his view of the two nude girls before him.

"Baka-Shinji! Just because we're dating doesn't mean you get to peek, what do you think you're doing popping up the wall!" Asuka berated her now wincing boyfriend, pounding her fist onto his head as he shrunk back under the wall and closed the opening that had been made in the wall. Hikari stood off to the side, blushing profusely at the sight of Shinji shirtless, obviously she understood the boy was off limits and she had feelings for someone else... but damn it all no one could deny that the brown haired boy was hot.

Cringing, Shinji rubbed the top of his head and whipped the towel off of his head. "I didn't make the opening damnit, one of the other guys mentioned to me that it was there and I thought that I'd put my two bits into the conversation." He defended, still rubbing his head as he spoke a little louder to compensate for the barrier separating them. "Besides I'm the one who told her to talk to you about this, I may know Toji pretty well but I'm not exactly the go-to-guy when it comes to making the first move..." He mumbled the last part, as Kensuke had made a crack about how Asuka had to have been the one to make the first move, claiming that when it came to the red haired girl, Shinji was just like a pathetic little puppy following her lead. The bespectacled boy was quickly 'knocked the fuck out'.

"So.. what do you expect me to do about it?" Asuka asked, leaning back against the bamboo wall and sighing as she washed her hair. "I don't exactly know what that idiot wants in a girl either." She sighed exasperatedly shaking her head and running her delicate fingers through her soft, silky hair. "We could go for the flashy look to get his attention, but somehow I don't think Hikari would be up for wearing a skimpy outfit."

Through the wall, Hikari blushed upon hearing Shinji's suggestion. "We could get her in the sailor school uniform, school girl outfits are always hot, maybe get her to not wear panties and have an 'accidental' breeze occur while it's just her and Toji." Immediately the young girl turned a shade of red that would have shamed a tomato.

"A-asuka." The timid girl gulped, trying to get the redheads attention as her best friend positively gleamed at the idea.

"Maybe a thong would work better than no panties though." Asuka suggested, snapping her fingers in a sudden burst of thought as she continued to grin about the endless possibilities.

"Sh-Shinji!" A squeak of embarrassment and fully flushed cheeks was the simple reaction this time, that and the fact that the idea had once crossed her mind was simply mortifying.

"That's true, and even without the uniform we could try just having him accidentally walk in on her while she's changing." The heavy undertone in the laugh that flowed from Shinji's side of the hot springs was just enough to make Hikari snapped.

"NO!" The tone used by the freckled girl in her outburst caused Asuka to widen her eyes in surprise, coming out of her side-tracked world, while Shinji on the other hand, opened up the panel in the wall again to make sure he had heard the right girl yell, after all... HIkari, under any circumstances EVER yelled. "I don't want to do things like that! All I wanted was for you two to help me confess to Toji that I like him and ask if he'd accompany me to the festival!"

"Hikari..." Shinji whispered out in awe as he stared (albeit at her face as all parties were still indeed bathing) at the young girl, before smirking and chuckling for a brief moment. "So all you wanted to do was let the idiot know that you have feelings for him huh?" At his friends nod he shrugged and shook his head. "Well then that's all taken care of."

"What do you mean?" Hikari asked, confused by Shinji's words and antics.

Catching Asuka's eye, the dull blue eyed boy nodded, reaching out of view of the two girls from behind the wall and as if pulling him out of thin air, an obviously tied up, and blushing Toji appeared in the small panel. "He's been here the entire time." Was all that was said before Shinji and Asuka slipped out of the hot springs via their respective exits, leaving two blushing teens to sort out their feelings alone.

* * *

"Aww man did you see Toji's face when he heard Hikari confess, I thought the poor kid was gonna pass out!" Shinji laughed heartedly as he walked alongside a still giggling Asuka, both dressed in the traditional yukatas worn after bathing.

"Think it was okay that we did that to them, I mean I'm pretty sure we could have come up with a better place to set them up than in the hot springs." Asuka voiced her thoughts as she gave a fleeting glance back towards the hot springs door.

The long brown haired boy rolled his eyes as he put his hair back into its normal ponytail, wincing a bit as the rubber band he had been using snapped his hair into place. "It was the only place we could get those two alone, save for locking them up alone in the plane bathroom... Hikari has no idea that we've been planning this for a month, she thinks it just came up on the plane ride." He smirked a bit as he recalled that it had been increasingly difficult to stop from blurting out to Toji just what he was up to when he had dragged the jock boy off to the hot springs. "Anyways, we'll let them figure it out, I don't think we're going to see them until sometime toward the end of dinner... speaking of which..."

Both teens paused in the hallway, taking in the pleasant aromas flowing from the main lobby and into the halls of the inn. With a small and amused grin, Shinji offered his arm to his beautiful girlfriend, winking as he spoke. "May I escort you milady?" He whispered against her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine with every word.

Smiling brightly, the glamorous redhead tucked a strand of her still slightly damp hair behind her ear and brushed her lips across Shinji's. "Maybe just this once." She teased, as she accepted his arm, and both smiled as they slid open the door to the lobby, receiving looks from all of the students currently sitting on the floor with their food placed in front of them.

Neither missed the glares that Asuka was receiving from the female population of the students, and it didn't help when during the actual meal the fiery red head actually licked off a stray grain of rice that had supposedly been on Shinji's cheek. She didn't care though, it was her way of showing her claim on the attractive young man she had grown to L- care for...

The males on the other hand, gave a much different reaction, randomly throwing approving gestures toward Shinji and smirking knowingly. He had been widely accepted once he had proved himself in sports at the school, and besides, if he had been snagged by Asuka, then they no longer had to compete with 'the great Shinji Ikari' for the affections of every girl in school. Just as Toji and Hikari made their entrance, standing unusually close to each other, while not touching, one of the students actually had the audacity to yell out. "Heh, looks like Ikari's not the only one getting some tonight, way to go Suzuhara!"

Before Asuka had the chance to jump at the pervert for ruining a perfectly good moment for her friend, she was gripped around the waist by a pair of strong arms and forced into Shinji's lap as he whispered something softly in her ear. The reaction that ensued caused many of the students to raise an eyebrow. Asuka's temper immediately quelled, and she put on a delicate blush before snuggling into a more comfortable position in her boyfriend's lap, kissing his cheek softly.

Everyone heard the crunching sound of chopsticks snapping and watched as on the far corner of the room, a rather frustrated and upset Mana stood up abruptly, kicking several people out of her way as she made for her room, slamming the door behind her. The rest of dinner went smoothly, although more than once Shizune-sensei had come by and warned Shinji not to get 'fresh' in front of the entire class and that she better not catch him in Asuka's room later tonight.

Soon it was the declared time for all the students to head off to bed, and with a heavy sigh, all the children filed off towards their beds, intent on resting up for tomorrow's activities. Save for two flushed teenagers in the hallway before their rooms, currently engaged in one of the most passionate lip locks that their friends had ever seen.

Shinji growled possessively as his fingertips ran up the base of Asuka's legs, drawing small little circles on her inner thigh, which caused elated sighs to rise from the girls chest with each touch. Smirking at her reaction, the young brown haired boy ran his tongue up the crook of the redheaded girl's neck, grazing his teeth along her soft skin slowly. In reaction to Shinji's canines on her flesh, Asuka instinctively raised her leg higher, wrapping it around her boyfriend's waist as she tangled her fingertips in his hair, her eyes practically rolling to the back of her head from the pleasure. She would never admit it to anyone of course, but biting was a major turn on for Asuka. _'Mnn... if he doesn't stop that we're going to end up fucking right here in the hallway!' _While her mind was still trying to be reasonable, the young girl didn't exactly find herself opposed to that idea, and apparently neither was Shinji, if the hardness pressing into her thigh was an indicator of that, just as she was about to reach for the sash on his yukata however...

"AHEM!"

Shinji pulled away from the beautiful redhead's neck at the interruption, and Asuka scowled and narrowed her eyes in anger as both turned their heads toward the source of the interruption. Shizune-sensei... Shinji ought to have known, they hadn't even been together for four hours yet and every few minutes the damn woman was up and checking on them as if they were toddlers.

"I believe it's almost time for lights out... while Mitsumoto and I have agreed not to separate you two as of yet... don't let things get out of hand or we will... understand!" Both teens nodded, although frowning with great displeasure at the woman and had still not detangled themselves from one another. "Very well then... I expect you two to be in your rooms within five minutes." The elder woman turned around, stomping off before tossing one last glare over her shoulder at Shinji and disappearing around the corner to make her rounds.

"Just what the heck happened when you two were talking!" Asuka asked, through small pants as she was still excited from Shinji's previous actions, though confused at her favorite teacher's behavior towards her newly formed relationship.

Sighing, the brown haired boy stepped away from his girlfriend, earning a small frown from said young woman. "It's not that big of a deal really... lets just say she's on Mana's side and doesn't think I should be with you... damn bitch." He muttered, glancing off in the direction the woman had disappeared in with a glare.

Asuka's eyes widened in shock, she couldn't believe that her favorite teacher, the one who would always excuse her rare tardies, offer extra help, and repeatedly pointed out Asuka as the most exceptional student she had the pleasure of teaching in a long time, to be against her dating, and worse was that she agreed with that bitch Mana. "What do you mean she agrees with Mana?"

Realization suddenly dawned on Shinji's face at the mentioning of the girl. "Damnit... I just realized... I am going to have to have a talk with Mana..." He cringed as Asuka gave him 'the look'.

Yes all men know of the dreaded 'look'. It's the same look that a woman gives a man when she does not approve of his actions, the same look that promises for a night of sleeping on the couch, or heaven forbid the same look that is given just before a rather thorough and painful kick to the goods is delivered. Shinji silently prayed it was neither of the last two options, especially the very last option, Asuka had very muscled legs, after all.

"Why do you have to explain anything to that bitch!" Shinji knew it, just as much as she did, that he really didn't owe anything to Mana. After all in the beginning _he_ had been the one to save _her_ life. Anything from their an in between had merely been common courtesy between the two, even if the brown haired girl had mistaken it for more. And after her explosion and attacking Asuka this evening, he felt even less inclined to explain to her, but to be honest, he really didn't feel like being glared at from behind for the rest of his life.

Sighing, the young teen ran his hand through his brown locks. "Look, it'll be quick... and after the trip, but I need to get her off my back and off of yours... why don't you come with me when I talk to her so that she doesn't try anything?" He offered, raising an eyebrow in question as she scowled, before giving a half nod. "Good... now let's forget all about that and enjoy the rest of the trip together." He winked at her and pressed his lips softly against her lips before turning away and heading towards his room, pausing just before the corner. "Besides... you should know I don't aim for anything other than the best, that includes when it comes to girls." He smirked when he saw the light blush on Asuka's cheeks and her rosy lips curve up into a happy smile as she turned around and headed to her own room.

Nodding, the young teen turned towards his door, opening it with a frown as Kensuke fell out, obviously having been leaning on the door to listen to the conversation. "Hehe, seems you aim for the most expensive girls as well." The bespectacled boy added with a grin as he pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "How can you afford Asuka's taste's anyway?"

Shrugging, Shinji moved past his friend and into the room, twirling a credit card in his hand. "Kaji keeps paying them off for some reason... not that I'm surprised, he has more credit cards than I can count but you'd think he'd notice the abundance of charges... anyway is everything ready?" He questioned turning his gaze back to his friend as he stood and walked towards the desk in the room.

Quirking his lips into a frown, the freckled boy nodded. "Yeah I set everything up." He pointed to the desk where three laptops, several modems, and numerous handheld devices were sprawled out and turned on. "Are you sure about this though, I mean I've checked em' out before and they're completely clean and legit... I think you're just being paranoid Shinji."

The taller boy cast a glare at Kensuke, instantly frightening the young boy and reminding him who's in charge... well who's in charge when Asuka isn't around at least. "I'm not being paranoid... all this is too coincidental." He remarked, moving to his duffle bag and pulling out several manilla folders, throwing them onto the desk and pulling out numerous files. "The day of my 'crash' twenty one students, including Tai Zamanza were transferred out of the region supposedly for scholarship purposes but no files in the schools records show where they were transferred to." He paused as he pulled out several photos. "Not thirty minutes after I went to the locker rooms, which is the last thing I can remember of that day, fourteen black vans with the NERV logo were seen outside the school and left promptly after throwing several bags into the back of said vans. The very next day and for the rest of the week, the locker rooms are closed due to 'maintenance issues.' Not to mention the blackouts I've been having since those days. I haven't slept in twenty four days Kensuke, today's black out was the most rest I've gotten in a month!" The young teen cried out in frustration, gripping his hair in anger.

Kensuke for his part, went over the file with great interest. "Geez... you went through a lot just to get the photos didn't you, they're from the street cameras that only the police have access to... what made you go all this way Shinji?"

Returning to his seat opposite of Kensuke on the desk, Shinji spoke with graveness in his voice. "I've said it before, I'll say it again... I never crash, now come on, get to work, I'll help as much as possible, all that looking at Kaji's files is about to be put to use."

* * *

Not thirty minutes later, deep in the underground command center of Nerv in Tokyo-3, Ritsuko Akagi jumped up with great surprise at the alarm that had arisen, bright flashing red lights caused her to spill her coffee onto her lab coat, though she paid it no mind. Something much bigger and of much greater importance had her attention now. The Magi were being hacked.

"Ibuki! Reinforce the coding system and have it set to twenty two second changes!" The blonde woman cried out, and her subordinate immediately nodded, typing furiously at her keyboard, beads of sweat rolling down her face as she worked.

Very shortly after, the locking mechanisms on the door to the Magi room opened and Commander Ikari walked in, whipping his sunglasses from his face with a fever. "What's going on Ritsuko!" He barked out as Kaji and Misato stumbled into the room a moment later, both looking rather flushed and their clothing a mess, mumbling something about the elevator getting stuck.

"Balthasar is being hacked sir! The intruder's already taken control of over sixty-three percent of its data grid!" The doctor panted heavily as she stared wide eyed at the screen in front of her.

"Well stop it! Get the entire team on this and find out just who the hell is doing this!" Gendo yelled, his voice echoing as his eyes narrowed and a vein appeared on his forehead.

Gasping, Maya cried out. "Not possible, the defense mechanism has already been disabled, and the tracking system had been malfunctioning all week... EIGHTY-THREE PERCENT OF THE DATA GRID HAS BEEN TAKEN UNDER CONTROL!" The young girl practically screamed as their data was about to be recovered by an unknown party.

Clenching his fist, the commander ordered the only thing he could. He would not lose... he would simply not allow the enemy to win. "DESTROY IT!" When his crew gave him a questioning look, he roared. "NOW!"

* * *

Shinji typed furiously at the keyboard, Kensuke going at a much faster speed, so fast in fact, that the bespectacled boy's fingers seemed to be nothing but a blur. All of a sudden, the loading screen that had been present of the corner of the screen ceased it's progress, then flickered out of existence, a screen of pure black green numbers appearing.

"What happened!" Shinji cried out in a hushed whisper, as not to disturb the other residents of the hotel and alert them of their activities.

Gritting his teeth, Kensuke slammed his fist on the table. "No way! They fried their own system!" He typed away quickly and sighed, running his fingertips through his messy hair, before a beeping sound alerted him, and he returned his attention to the screen. "Yes! We got some photo and video files, as well as a few data documents that I auto-saved... this is classified stuff Shinji, you were right!"

Grinning in anticipation, the young teen nodded enthusiastically. "Open it up!" He cried, moving over to get a better look at Kensuke's screen, only to stop and stare wide eyed at the images on the screen. "N...no way... he didn't... BASTARD!"

* * *

**AN: Finally, man that took forever, well I'm still not satisfied with how it turned out, and I'm sure I could do much better... but this is a filler chapter after all, and soon the mystery of NERV will be unveiled. Well, till next time my friends!**

**READ AND REVIEW!!**


	10. Dreams

**AN: Yes, it's finally here, the next installment of Evangelion: A Beautiful Lie. I know you all are a bit irritated at the long wait, but unfortunately it was necessary, I've been focusing on my school work and I am just about to graduate from High School. Once I'm out I'll have a lot more free time to write. Now, onward with the reading!**

* * *

Gendo Ikari was not pleased, no he was not pleased at all, in fact the normally calm, unwavering, stoic man was now incredibly and thoroughly pissed the fuck off. At approximately ten thirty-seven, the super computer Balthasar, located at Nerv headquarters was assaulted by an outside party. In less than sixteen minutes the entire database of Nerv was under the control of a foreign party, and he had no choice but to completely destroy the computer along with any data that was being transfered at the time of the hacking.

"This doesn't bode well Ritsuko, were you able to recover anything at all?" The tone used by the commander caused the good doctor to nearly jump out of her skin as she rummaged through the core of the now useless and scorching MAGI.

Wiping her forearm along her brow, the blonde woman gave a hefty sigh as she looked over the fruits of her effort from the last few hours. These 'fruits' however, only consisted of several smoking data grids, and a few fragments of what was once the most powerful CPU in the world, or so it had been thought at least. "It doesn't look good, while we were able to recover the main files you asked for, it seems as though whoever did this got some of the Photo files and a few video." Ritsuko bit her bottom lip to keep from blurting out her next thought. _'My personal notes... I had them stored on balthasar...'_

A loud crunching sound was heard throughout the entire room and everyone looked in shock as Gendo Ikari opened his hand, revealing his crushed, orange sunglasses now merely shards in his palm. "I want the person responsible for this found... and I want them found now!"

* * *

With an audible thump, Kensuke fell to the floor, his glasses falling off of his face and landing a few feet away from the now unmoving boy. The freckled boy, who just moments ago had been smiling in triumph over his victory of the esteemed personnel of NERV, was now slumped on the ground with his eyes glazed over, a small stream of blood flowing down his neck.

Shinji gave a heavy sigh as he pulled the syringe out from his bespectacled friends' neck. Wiping away the blood with a handkerchief, he rolled the unconscious boy into his futon and flopped the covers over him. It took him no more than three minutes to pack up all the equipment they had been using just moments ago and make it appear as if nothing of the sort had occurred.

"Sorry buddy, it's safer if you don't get involved though..." The brown haired boy whispered, shutting the door behind him, lugging several cases with him as he made his way into Kensuke's assigned room, having taken the small paper sign with Kensuke's name on it and switching it with his on the door, no one would notice if two people switched rooms, or at least he hoped. _'Man you never know when the stuff you steal from Kaji's suitcases is gonna come in handy.'_ He thought as he pocketed the syringe, careful not to prick himself with the needle.

Let out an exhausted groan, the young teen ran his hands over his face in an act of habit, showing how frustrated he was with the current situation. As he began setting everything back up in Kensuke's original room, Shinji bit his lower lip to stop from screaming out in anger and running straight to Nerv to grab his father by the throat and watch the life drain from the bastard's eyes.

Sighing, the brown haired youth flipped the laptop open again, grinding his teeth together at what he saw. Pictures... numerous photos of him and Asuka over the past few months beginning with the very day they had met at the airport, at school, at the lake, and most disturbingly, play by play pictures of his and Asuka's kiss on the kitchen table in Misato's apartment.

'_He's been watching me, no, he's been watching us... but why?' _Shinji bit his lip in thought, scrolling through the numerous images and only becoming more and more confused with each passing second. What could Gendo possibly gain from having him followed, his father always had a reason, for everything. As of now he could see no benefit at all, so why have him, and Asuka stalked?

It was then that he halted, finding at least a bit of the information he had been looking for, even if it wasn't much. Photos of the wreck, his supposed _"crash" _on the mountainside. With a thin, amused grin, he chuckled, shaking his head as he allowed himself to fall backwards, landing on his futon. He had his proof now, the skid marks, or rather, the absence of skid marks on the road where he had apparently been found.

If he were, in the very, very unlikely and impossible instance, to crash, he would at least have attempted to avoid such an occurrence as much as possible and that would entail him swerving, which would have left skid marks on the road. The lack of any such marks only meant one thing...

"It was a set up." Those five words caused a truly amused, entertained smirk to form on Shinji's lips. A moment later he had covered his mouth, chuckling softly to avoid waking the other students sleeping just past the thin walls.

A small, exasperated sigh would emit from Shinji's lips as he stood up, walking over to his overnight bag and fishing through the piles of clothes he had brought with him on the trip.

"Aha found it! Man am I glad I remembered to bring you along." A flash of silver would reflect in Shinji's eyes as he looked down at the container that housed the remaining two cigarettes Kaji had given to him as a gift. Flipping the container open, he drew out one of the cigarettes, and placed it between his lips. Not a moment later, the young teen had whipped out his lighter, inhaling the smoke that flowed, the bittersweet tobacco taste running along his taste buds as he exhaled.

"Nerv, no my father is having me and my girlfriend spied on at all times... he's following us around in order to... in order to... keep us together?" The revelation was accompanied by Shinji's bewildered look, wide eyed and slack jawed. "Kaji takes me out of nowhere back here to Tokyo-3, coincidentally where Gendo's base of operations is located, and where Asuka is located." The brown haired youth paused for a moment, taking another hit of his cigarette before he continued, the smoldering end being his only source of light at the moment. "Rather than doing something sensible and leaving me on my own or with someone responsible, Kaji drops me off with Misato and Asuka. He leaves two teenagers with raging hormones in an apartment with a guardian who is likely to return home late." The more and more he continued, just increased his suspicions. "Misato forces us to stay in the same room, eat together, sleep together, and bathe together as punishment... Nerv... wants me and Asuka to be together."

That was it, so subtle, a plan that would seem to have no outcome, what could his father possibly gain? With a shake of his head, Shinji took one last hit, the smoldering cigarette finally burning out and down to the filter. If there was one thing that he was sure of at this moment, it was that he did truly have feelings for Asuka, and not because of Gendo's, Misato's, and Kaji's influence.

Even if they had been forced together, no one could make them truly do anything, no one had the ability to influence whether or not they got along. The moments they shared, their conversations, their kisses, their feelings for each other, was all their own. "I may be playing into your hand dad... but not the way you want me to... I care about Asuka Langley Soryu, but it's not because of what you did... it's because of what I did... what we did... what she does, to make me feel complete..." With that last sentence, spoken into the darkness, to no one but himself, Shinji Ikari would begin his revelation, his journey was just now beginning. And that's when he collapsed.

* * *

_**FLASH**_

_Shinji whirled around, once again lost within what he could only believe to be the confines of his own mind. A blank, white, endless void and him standing, or rather floating right in the middle of it._

"_What am I doing here... why do I keep coming back here? WHY DO YOU KEEP TAKING ME HERE!" He screamed, yelling to himself, shouting to the world, a cry, a question, what had he done, why was this happening to him?_

_His shout would echo, shaking the abyss around him, when a sudden gust of wind would envelop him and cause the young teen to shield his eyes. Slowly the gust would weaken to a light breeze, and then dissipate completely._

_Instantaneously he noticed the change, no longer was he standing in the empty world, no as of now he was in a long and vacant hallway. This new world was different, yet entirely the same, everything the same shade of grey, black and white mixed into a perfect concoction. Only one object stood out, in a glowing blood red, a logo on every mechanical door in the hallway. _

_NERV_

"_I'm at Nerv... what the hell?" Without even registering it, Shinji had begun walking down the seemingly never-ending hall. His footsteps made no sound on the hard metal floor, turning his head to the side, the brown haired boy could vaguely make out images through the small glass windows that were centered in the doors._

_Tubes, odd glass containers filled with a yellow liquid were in every single room, although one room he had paused to peer inside further, inside one of the tubes, their seemed to be a young girl, with short, pale blue hair. "What is..." _

_Before the brown haired teen had time to voice his question, his feet began moving along again, stopping at the base of a large, metallic stairway that led up to a pair of large double doors. Once again the Nerv logo shining brightly, intensifying with each and every step that he took towards the door. It was so odd, he seemed to have no control over his actions, and yet it was what he had wished to happen. As he gripped the handles to the large doors, Shinji's heart began to race, fearing what he may find on the other side._

_Another bright flash of light, yet this one swirling with colors so bright that it blinded him before his blurry vision began to refocus and he could see what the world had become._

"_Playground?" He whispered out, a look of confusion evident in his features. A quick glance around told him that it was not truly a playground, it was part of the prison that was NERV HQ. The entire area was secluded, and the fences that surrounded the designated "play" area were lined with barbed wire and two guards were posted next to a door that obviously led underground._

_No children laughed or played on the rusty old swing-set, nor did anyone giggle as they slid down the poorly maintained slide. There were only two even in the vicinity, sitting in a small sandbox, and piling lumps of sand onto a poorly built castle in the center. As he approached the two children, Shinji's eyes went wide as he realized just who the children were._

_On the left, with wild, unkept, brown hair... was a younger, five year old version of Shinji, who's eyes were downcast as he whispered quietly to his companion._

_To the left... was Asuka, dressed in a smaller version of her favorite yellow sundress and her hair as vibrant and as perfect as ever. She sat, sniffling softly as she rubbed her left arm, her sobs quiet as she fought to stay strong._

"_They hurt me again... they keep sticking those needles into me and they won't stop... Shinji-kun it hurts." The cry of pain in the young Asuka's sobs was heartbreaking as she cried, clutching her elbow._

_A frown formed on the young Shinji's lips as he nodded in agreement, holding out his left arm and showing Asuka an odd, small, triangular shaped wound just in the bend of his elbow. "I get them too Asuka-chan, but they said they're gonna stop soon, and they'll let us out... then we can go to school like the normal kids, and play for real!"_

_It was plain to anyone who had any maturity and understood the graveness of the situation that the young boy was trying his best to comfort his friend, when everything was so far from okay._

"_I miss Mama... I wish she was here... why did she leave me Shinji-kun!" The tears flowed freely now, as the little girl brought her gaze up, her eyes red as she pleaded with her friend._

_It was weird to Shinji, seeing a younger version of himself, move over and hug a young Asuka in his arms, protecting her, soothing her just as he would do for his Asuka today. Unsettling seemed more the word, but it was still natural, as if it should be._

"_Doctor Akagi told me both our mama's are with us, always... even when they use the needles." _

_Shinji narrowed his eyes at the statement, focusing on the wound on the child version of himself. Kneeling down, he reached out, and the moment his fingers brushed against the flesh of the wound, the world once more collapsed, this time in a ripple like motion._

_He was not greeted by silence this time, no, now screams were his welcome to this new world. Horrified, and pain filled screams echoed about him before the world had even come into focus, and when he could finally see... he wished that he couldn't. _

_Indoors this time, a plain, clean white room, filled with people, doctors surrounding a single platform. Curious, Shinji walked around the crowd of medical attendants, attempting to get a look of who was screaming. On the table, laying down, side by side were the young Asuka and Shinji from before, only a bit older this time, maybe six, or seven. However Shinji could not focus on their looks, no, the only thing that he was seeing at this moment was their pain._

_Countless wires were strapped to their bodies, and needles inside every major vein, around their foreheads, was something that made him sick, and electro shock belt, the same kind used on death row inmates during their executions. The two children were writhing in pain, crying out and screaming as they were electrocuted over and over again._

"_STOP IT!" Shinji shouted, unable to watch the horrific act before him, he yelled as the doctors continued to mumble things he didn't understand. He had attempted to grab one of the doctors, only for his hand to pass right through them, his eyes unable to tear away from the pain filled eyes of Asuka and himself._

_And then, it happened, and Shinji recoiled as he heard the two children scream in unison, the pitch so high he would have sworn it could shatter glass. The two children suddenly became silent, their bodies falling limp and their eyes closing._

_An instant later, their eyes both flew open, this time, an unnatural and eerie presence heavy in the air. Gone were Shinji's dull blue orbs, as well as Asuka's cerulean gaze. Now replaced by a pure, glowing red glare on the face of a young boy, and a brightly shining yellow emitting from the young red head._

"_**GET OFF!" **__The dark, and overlapping roar that emit from the young Shinji's throat was chilling, as the young boy ripped through the leather restraints holding him down like they were paper. A simple kick, and the nearest doctor was sent flying, crashing into the window with a sickening crack as his skull caved in._

_Shinji stopped breathing, if he had been breathing at all as he watched his child self flail and attack the doctors, though the wires connected to him did not break or fall. Slowly, shockingly he turned his gaze to Asuka, finding almost as sickening a sight as before. Syringes had floated up off the tables, as if being held up by invisible strings, with a flick of Asuka's hand, the needles flew, plunging into the hearts of several doctors, who fell to the ground a moment later, obviously dead._

"_Enough... Do it." That voice... he knew who it was instantly, averting his eyes to the corner of the room, he saw him, Gendo Ikari, as stoic and cold as ever was glaring at his son and the young girl on the table._

"_Yes sir."_

_The children began wailing in pain once more, jolting and thrashing about as they were electrocuted once more, this time on a much larger scale. With a high pitched scream, the two fell limp once more, unmoving except for the rising and falling of their chests... at least they were breathing._

_Slowly, Gendo stepped out before Shinji and Asuka, and soon an incredibly young looking Doctor Akagi flanked his left, writing something down on her clipboard. "There powerful..." Even she seemed to be afraid of the spectacle, if her shaking hand was any indication of that._

_Beside her, the eldest Ikari gave a curt nod. "True, but they have no control, it's a start however... together they could be potent... Now did it work?" A curious tone in his voice, one Shinji did not like hearing was in that simple question._

_Sighing, the blonde woman pursed her lip. "We won't know until we wake them up." Was her curt reply, her voice and tone still as shaky and nervous as it had been a moment ago._

"_Wake them."_

"_Sir, we can't possibly wake them so soon. They're in excruciating pain! If we even tried they would be-" She was cut off however, by Gendo's sharp glare and a stern command._

_The older man pushed his orange sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose as he stepped over towards the collapsed young girl. "Just wake her then... for a moment and then you can put her back to sleep, we need confirmation as soon as possible that it worked."_

_Ritsuko gulped, a sad look in her eyes as she walked over to the collapsed form of Asuka, pulling out a syringe and emptying it into the girls bloodstream. Seconds later, the blue eyed girls eyes would flicker open, no longer a pure, bright yellow, but back to their original hue. A small, weak groan escaped from Asuka and she whimpered as she tried to get up, only to be stopped by the female doctor._

"_Look at me... do you understand what I'm saying Asuka?" Ritsuko attempted to use the most soothing tone she could muster, although Shinji could feel nothing but hate as he watched her._

_Weakly, and slowly Asuka nodded in response to the older woman's question, muttering a strained reply. "Yes..."_

_A small smile spread across the Doctor's lips. And she pulled out what appeared to be a small photograph, although the subject of what or who was on the photograph, Shinji couldn't make out. "Then... do you know this boy?"_

_Silence followed, slow and deafening before finally. "...No." Her head then fell to the side as she passed out once more, Ritsuko pulling another syringe from Asuka's arm._

"_Excellent." Was the only thing that Gendo would reply upon hearing such an answer, a disturbing smile plastered on his face as he turned and walked out of the room. The world one last time, warping away, and Shinji fell, deeper and deeper into the darkness._

* * *

Shinji sat up with a jolt, inhaling sharply as he fought to breathe, hacking and coughing before he fell back, his chest rising up and down rapidly. Every last inch of his skin drenched and coated in sweat, glistening in the dim light that the sun provided as it shone through the window. A loud, exhausted groan rose from the young teens throat as he brought his knees up to his chest, resting his forehead against his legs in an attempt to clear his head.

Silently, the brown haired teen rose from his futon, stumbling about as he made his way to the small washroom provided by the resort in each room. Grunting, he turned on the sink, blasting the cold water and splashing it against his face. Droplets of water running down his face as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.

A sigh of relief escaped the teen, as he began to once more breathe normally. As he went to turn he halted, craning his neck back toward the mirror and leaning in, the tip of his nose mere centimeters away from the reflecting glass as he examined an oddity. His eyes... once a dull shade of blue, almost grey, were now bright and exuberant, the same startling hue as Asuka's. That was not the only thing that had changed, his skin, his appearance, he just seemed to look... healthier.

"Weird..." He muttered to himself, placing his hands on the edge of the sink. Once again he caught something he had not noticed before, on his left elbow, a small, faded triangular scar now seemed to stand out to him. Wrinkling his nose in confusion, Shinji ran his fingertips along his arm. Just as they brushed along the scar, he jolted, jumping back and away from the mirror as if he had been shocked.

A flash, a distant memory of a sharp stinging pain in his arm had hit him. Beyond his grasp in an image, but the pain, the hurt, he remembered that.

Gulping softly, Shinji returned his gaze to the mirror, biting his lip and closing his eyes. "What the hell did I dream last night..." Then it hit him, and he shot his eyes open as his lips parted in awe. "I dreamt... something, which means I slept... the insomnia... it's gone." He laughed, grinning at the revelation before he took off, intent on washing up in the springs before meeting the others at the dining hall.

There was only one other person in the dining hall when Shinji walked in, feeling refreshed and clean from his morning bath. Hikari Horaki sat at the farthest corner table by the window, nibbling on an omelet as she looked over several files in a blue binder.

TIlting his head to the side, young man took his place across from his girlfriend's best friend, his eyebrows raised as he leaned over a bit to get a better look at what she was doing. "What's with the paperwork?"

The freckled girl smiled slightly, answering without looking up from her work. "I'm just making sure that none of the students are allergic to anything in the food the chefs made, but it doesn't look like it." She replied with an upbeat tone, closing the binder and looking up to greet her best friends boyfriend. "Shinji you look... different." Hikari blinked in surprise, there was something subtle about her friend, as if he were calmer, more at peace than he normally was.

A small, satisfied smile was her reply, as the blue eyed boy began to take large bites of his meal placed before him. "I've been feeling better, a bit stronger than I have in a while, guess I just needed some rest."

"That or Asuka's good for your health." The class rep deadpanned with a smirk, causing Shinji to second guess the shy, innocent girl he had believed her to be once before. "What are you doing up so early anyway, it's only five-thirty?"

"Misato starts her day with a loud yell to get herself pumped at about five o clock sharp, and Asuka tries to steal my bathroom about three minutes later, so I have to wake up early." He answered between gulps and a few sips of orange juice, before he paused a moment and glanced to the side. "Where is Asuka anyway?"

At this point, students began to file into the dining hall, taking their seats and chattering about the previous day, where they had gone and the souvenirs they had purchased. It took only a few more seconds before both had cleared their plates and stood up, eager to get back to some peace and quiet. "She's still sleeping, she was worried about you last night and we stayed up talking about well... you and Toji, I think she got worn out." The young girl admitted guiltily, folding her hands in her lap as they walked down the main hall.

"Heh, well then that's good, she could use some rest anyway, she was taking care of me yesterday when I felt a bit sick, I'm gonna go check on her. See ya later Hikari." He waved as he turned down towards the classes designated rooms, intent on making sure his girlfriend was okay. Just as he had made it to Asuka's door, Hikari called out to him.

"Shinji!" The tone that came out from the young girl immediately caused said boy to turn his head, concerned at first, then understanding. Hikari was fidgeting with the fabric of her dress, her head ducked down as she spoke. "Thank you, for helping me with Toji..." It was easy to see how unusual and foreign it was for her, Hikari was always the strong one, not physically, but she was always collected, able to handle any situation that was thrown her way. It was the sole reason she was so thoroughly respected as class representative.

With a warm smile, Shinji nodded, having gained another friend this moment, he took her appreciation, and acknowledged it. "Don't mention it... no big deal at all, though that double date thing you asked me about yesterday when you called... I still gotta check with Asuka, even if we don't tag along, you'll do fine with Suzuhara... he may be an idiot, but he cares about you." With that, he quietly slid open the door to Asuka's room, and stepped inside, shutting the door silently behind him.

The freckled girl stood smiling outside in the hallway, her eyes bright as she bowed her head in thanks to her new friend, before they had simply accepted each other, now there was an understanding between them, one that would help them both in the future. "You're good for her Shinji... take care of Asuka." She spoke to herself, truly happy that her best friend now had someone, who could hold her, love her, and save her.

* * *

It was quiet when he entered Asuka's room, the only sound was the soft sound of running water coming from the washroom. Quickly, Shinji scanned the room, finding Asuka's futon ruffled and unkept, rolling his eyes he chuckled. It was so like Asuka, for all her femininity, she really never did have a knack for cleaning up after herself. Then again, that was just part of Asuka being Asuka. With a grin, he stepped into the entryway to the washroom, finding the fiery redhead combing her hair and humming softly.

The brown haired boy arched an eyebrow, stepping behind Asuka, suddenly wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against him, which of course, having taken the young girl by surprise, caused her to jump a bit and panic before relaxing into her boyfriends embrace. However, not before elbowing him in the ribs rather harshly. "Dummkopf, don't sneak up on me like that!" She glared, though playfully as he released her and stepped back into the main room.

"Yeah, duly noted Red." Shinji muttered, rubbing his side with a cringe, despite her petite frame, the girl hit hard. "I think you bruised my rib, that's the thanks I get for buying you an expensive, beautiful kimono, last time I buy you anything!" He joked, sitting on the edge of the dresser and grinning.

Asuka merely rolled her eyes at Shinji's antics, swishing her hips in a seductive manner as she approached, an innocent, and alluring bat of her eyes as she leaned down and kissed her boyfriends neck, biting him just in spite. "You should be honored to buy something beautiful for a beautiful woman... and if that's not reward enough, you know when wearing the ceremonial kimono's a girl is supposed to be naked underneath, and who's to say the slit won't just happen to open up when we're alone during the festival." Her tone was low and seductive, a light purr in her voice as she pulled away, throwing a wink in his direction before sliding open one of the drawers from her dresser and withdrawing two different sets of lingerie.

"Which one do you think I should wear today?" The dazzling, cerulean eyed young woman asked, pouting her lip as she held up a pair of yellow, transparent panties in one hand, and in the other a delectable, red g-string thong.

'_Damn you Asuka.' _Seemed to be the only thing going through Shinji's mind as he sat, baffled at his girlfriends mysterious ability to render him speechless. "Does it really matter, it's not like anyone else is going to be seeing it when the class goes sightseeing today." He replied cooly, not letting her see just how much she affected him when she pulled her little stunts.

Slowly, mesmerizingly, the fiery red head licked her lips, leaving a glossy, wet shine on them as she spoke, cupping her hands together in front of her lap and causing her breasts to press together through the thin white shirt she had worn to bed last night. "Oh but they are important. I have to go tell Shizune-sensei how I'm suddenly feeling under the weather, and unfortunately have to stay here and rest..." Asuka grinned, a mischievous, and devilish look on her face that made her oh so sexy as she once more pressed her lips to Shinji's, pulling away a moment later. "And not so luckily, you've caught what I have too..."

A deep, amused, and joyful chuckle, emit from the young teens throat as he worked over Asuka's plan in his head. After a moment, he shrugged and threw her a wink as well, speaking only two simple words before lifting the dazzling beauty up off the ground and ravishing her up against the wall.

"The red."

* * *

**AN: There you have it, I kind of like how it turned out. This chapter was written, deleted, and rewritten numerous times before I settled on this version. Shinji's become a bit more cheerful, but hey, if you had Asuka for a girlfriend you would be too. Well until next time. READ AND REVIEW!**

**Here's a special note, this fanfiction now has an AMV that is dedicated about it. On youtube, go to my account Kentoushi87 and check out the video.**


	11. The Unfolding

**AN: Damn, do I owe you guys an apology. This update literally took forever... I'm truly sorry but I have been busy as hell, I've decided to join the Marines, and as such training for boot camp has taken up a lot of my time. Well anyway I hope you all enjoy this next installment of Evangelion: A Beautiful Lie.**

The rest of the week had passed in the blink of an eye now that the work was done with and all that was left was free time. The final day of the school trip had approached, and many of the students, having had their fill of fun were satisfied and ready to relax at the festival and head home the next morning. Those particular students had frolicked around the city during their free time, enjoyed the wonderful sights of Kyoto, and even emptied their bank accounts to afford outrageously priced and useless souvenirs. Other students however, were more concerned with the festival itself, or rather, only one individual was truly worried about the festival, as it was to be his first date with his new girlfriend.

"What if I screw up! She'll think I'm an idiot and never speak to me again!" The frustrated cry came from none other than Toji Suzuhara, the jock of the group Asuka had jokingly named "The Three Stooges". Said boy was pacing back and forth in the lobby of the hot spring resort while a pair of deep blue eyes watched in exasperation.

Shinji Ikari frowned and stared with disdain and boredom as he was forced to watch his friend over-think the situation and go wild with scenarios of how he would ruin the entire day just by making one stupid move. "If you keep going on like this then Asuka really must be right, you are an idiot!" Before Touji even had time to react to his insult, Shinji continued. "Look, if Hikari gave a damn about you screwing up, or ever doing something stupid, well then she wouldn't be agreeing to go out with you in the first place." He finished, a small smirk upon his lips before standing up and waving a hand dismissively. "Don't sweat the small things Toji, there's no real point in worrying about something that might not even happen, so go out and have a good time with the Class Rep tonight.

The black haired jock winced a bit at the harsh truth of his friends statement, however it did manage to bring his confidence back for the moment. With a small grin, Toji gave a sharp nod towards his calm and collected friend. "You're right... Thanks Shinji, I owe you one. I need to go get ready anyway so I'll catch up with you in a bit alright?" He gave a light hearted thumbs up before turning and dashing down the hallway, no doubt headed towards his own room.

"Well, seems you're quite the 'go to guy' now aren't you baka-Shinji?" A pair of arms draped around Shinji's neck as he was suddenly pounced upon from behind, wisps of shining red locks brushed against his shoulders and cheeks. The the young man closed his eyes and peacefully basked in the scent of fresh strawberries as Asuka's hair seemed to drape around him. Her scent, just another way of knowing she was near, seemed to give him such a sense of peace that he could often lose himself in her essence. "When did you become the relationship expert?"

Her voice jarred him from the pleasant thoughts he had been entertained by just moments ago. With a small smirk, he hooked his arms underneath Asuka's legs, which had wrapped themselves around his waist from behind. "Probably when I managed to snag the red headed devil herself." He commented, beginning to walk down the hall as Asuka wriggled and kicked at his sides playfully.

"What are you doing! Put me down!" She cried out in a fit of giggles as her boyfriend proceeded to spin around and carry her through the halls with a wicked grin on his lips.

"Is that a hint of begging I hear, from the Great Asuka Langley Soryu?" Shinji asked bemusedly, cupping his hand against his ear as if listening to the wind. This action of course, resulted in a swift fist to the young mans head, courtesy of the beauty currently tossed over his shoulder. Not a moment later, said redhead was back on her own two feet, while her boyfriend rubbed his head with a grin. "You know, I bet this counts as boyfriend abuse."

"Hmph, serves you right for flinging me about like a rag doll." Asuka retorted with her arms crossed over her chest, though her upbeat voice obviously betrayed her words. A small smile replaced her frown soon after and she winked at the young man before her. "Anyway, I just wanted to see you before I went to get ready for the festival tonight." The words came out in a sultry whisper against Shinji's ear, as Asuka had closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around his waist and brushing her lips against his in a chaste kiss.

Shinji barely had time to react before Asuka separated herself from him and bounded down the hallway towards the hot spring in a red blur. "Damn girl, she's gonna be the death of me..." He murmured under his breath as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I wonder what I should have for lunch?" He asked himself as he turned into the door that led to the dining hall, opening it and closing it swiftly behind him, blissfully unaware of the crumpled and misshapen door handle he had just destroyed.

Asuka hummed softly to herself as she stripped off her clothes in the hot springs changing rooms, a plain white towel clutched to her chest as she walked into the steamy hot springs. A pleasant sigh escaped her as she delved into the warm water that splashed up against her pale, creamy skin. "Ah there's nothing like a hot spring." She mused happily, sinking down further into the water, her hair beginning to float out every which way on the surface of the steaming liquid.

A soft splash resounded soon after, and the redhead merely opened her eyes to find the one and only person who could ruin her good mood at the moment. "Mana..." She growled out under her breath.

"You ruined everything..." The mahogany haired girl snapped in an irritant tone, fury in her eyes. "Shinji-kun was supposed to be mine, they told me so! Why are you here screwing everything up!"

The redheads brows furrowed in confusion at the young woman's words. "They who the hell are you talking abou- you know what it doesn't matter!" She shouted, standing up in the waist deep water, not bothering to cover herself up with the towel she had handy, instead merely looming over Mana with a sharp look in her eyes. "You've got no right intruding in mine and Shinji's lives! He wants me and not you so get used to it you two faced bitch!" Turning on her heels and wading through the water towards the exit.

Mana's scowl slowly began to change, forming a small smile, which soon was followed by a sadistic grin and a maniacal look in her eyes as she advanced upon her redheaded rival. "Shinji-kun is only blinded by your trashy clothing and your shamelessness you hussy... but I'll fix that."

Puzzled at her final words, Asuka turned around, her tongue just ready to lash out insult upon insult at the young woman... only to be struck in the side of her head by a large rock that Mana had managed to swing in what could only be a valiant show of strength. Instantly, the red headed beauty dropped back into the water, her eyes wide with surprise as she slid deeper and deeper down under the surface. Blood began to pour from her newly recieved wound, clouding the water and blocking Asuka's vision.

Without a moments waste, Mana lunged upon Asuka once more, her frail hands wrapping themselves around the young woman's throat while she pinned her body down to prevent her from emerging. "If you're not around... then Shinji-kun will be mine!" She shrieked with a wicked tone, her eyes gleaming with joy... joy of removing the only obstacle in her path.

Asuka screamed, or at least tried to, as she stared into the wicked brown eyes of her assaulter, the crushing weight upon her neck being too much to bare. Cringing as the air was forced out of her lungs, she watched as the bubbles escaped her, and rose to the surface gone from her forever. _'This girl... she's really gonna kill me... I'm gonna die... I'm gonna die... I DON'T WANT TO DIE!' _She screamed in her mind, just before everything went black under the crushing weight of the water.

The young woman awoke with a start, jolting upwards into a sitting position in the water. Her lungs felt heavy, and she panted uncontrollably as her eyes darted from side to side, searching for her attacker amidst the steam. It was several silent, eye darting moments, before Asuka's senses returned to her, and she calmed down slightly falling into a relaxed stance with a breath of relief. "A nightmare, but it felt so real... I must have fallen asleep in the spring." She muttered under her breath, quickly exiting the pool of hot water and practically running across the stone floor to the changing rooms. However not before casting one last glance towards the springs. "I could have drowned... oh well, time to get ready."

Up upon the bamboo wall that ran across the perimeter of the spring, their lay several sharp and broken bamboo rods. And upon one of those rods was a small mark of a red tint, a blood stain... which had not been there before, along with several stray strands of mahogany colored hair.

_Shinji ducked quickly, narrowly avoiding the large and knuckled fist of Tai Zamanza, the result being that the larger boys fist continued to soar, before connecting with a locker and instantly collapsing the thin sheet of metal. "Damn you hold still!"_

_The brown haired boy however, would do no such thing as without hesitation he delivered a harsh blow to the stomach of two other attackers. Without fail, the two teens went down to the ground, heaving their stomach contents from the pain onto the locker room floor._

_The remaining eighteen young men crowded around the room watched with wide eyes as their friends fell, and cursed their plan to jump Shinji in the locker room. With so many of them, movement was limited but of course Shinji had free reign, and it didn't take long for three more to fall to the ground. "That all you idiots got!"_

"_I've had enough of this!" A burly voice yelled, causing Shinji to turn around... only to be met with a sharp pain in his side._

_The room fell quiet then, as the remaining boys standing watched in awe and some with horror as the young man they had planned to merely rough up a little, staggered and fell back against a locker with a seven inch blade sticking out of his left side. Slowly, he slid down to the ground, blood flowing out of the corner of his mouth. "I... shit..." He coughed, hacking up blood before his head dropped and his body became limp._

_A long paused followed, and no one dared to move until finally someone called out. "Tai what the hell was that for! You fucking killed him you idiot, that wasn't the plan!" Shouts of anger and agreement followed, and the locker room soon became noisier than ever as Zamanza stared down at his shaking hands._

"_I don't... I didn't mean to!" He cried out, a horrified expression taking over his face. "He just... He wouldn't stop... I HAD TO! IF I DIDN"T HE WOULD'VE-" No one knows what the next words that Tai Zamanza would have spoken, as his sentenced was interrupted... by the hand that had pierced through his back, and out his chest. Another series of gasps spread through the room, as the bullies body was thrown clear across the room and struck a wall with a sickening series of cracks._

_All eyes followed the corpse as it flew through the air, before returning back to where Tai once stood. Though now, all that stood was a bloodstained young man, gone were the dull blue eyes of Shinji Ikari... replaced by the bright glowing blood red eyes of a monster. __**"This..." **__Shinji spoke out, with a darker, and simply demonic, evil tone __**"Is gonna be fun."**_ _Before he charged._

"I've seen enough." Gendo Ikari commanded for the video feed to be stopped, and instantly the enormous screen that took up almost the entire wall of the observatory room went black, before the lights returned revealing that several oddly shaped rectangular screens occupied the remaining chairs of the meeting table. Upon each of these screens, was someone in a military uniform or a business suit.

"He's unstable..." The comment came from the black screen with Member 03 in glowing red letters across it. A gleam flew across Gendo's orange sunglasses at that, and the ever present scowl on his face seemed to tighten even more.

"If this continues, we will have to abandon the project, we can't afford any uncontrolled variables in this experiment." These words came from the only other person actually in the room, other than Gendo himself, and all gazes turned towards him. "I won't have her exposed to such danger, and power... especially when he's not in control. Do you understand..." His voice trailed off, before he turned around and began walking out of the dark room, the mechanical swish of the doors opening and closing again being the only indication that he had left.

Not soon after, the screens went blank and Gendo found himself alone. He spoke to no one in particular... simply to the wind. "Of course I know what this means Aldus... but I wonder... is he the only one unstable? Commander Soryu?"

On Gendo's PDA the flashing image continued to appear on the screen, and he was simply glad that no one was around to find out the message.

Scenario Two Abandoned Subject Perished

A soft, joyous, and melodic tune filled the air of the medium sized bedroom that belonged to Asuka and Hikari. Said girls were sitting in front of the two vanity sized mirrors that were placed in every room, putting the finishing touches on their appearance, which each one was truly proud of the outcome.

Hikari's trademark pigtails had been forgone for the night, and her curly brown locks fell down to her shoulders. A sky blue kimono, with splashes of white and sea green dawned the young woman's body bringing out the shy beauty that lurked beneath the surface of the uptight class-rep. "You think Suzuhara-san will like it?" She questioned with a soft blush, motioning to her attire.

Asuka's humming ceased, and she turned to her friend with a playful wink. "Of course he will, that boy drools over you, and with all the effort we put in... well I think you may just get pretty far with him tonight." She chuckled as Hikari turned scarlet, then turned back towards the mirror, admiring her look.

The vibrant, fire red hair normally held up by her trademark hair clips, had been straightened out, framing her face beautifully and reaching well down to the small of her back. The silk red cherry blossom tree kimono that Shinji had purchased for her several days before complimented her rather nicely. Her large breasts showing off prominently in the hem of the kimono, although not so much that anyone would be getting a peak... well anyone other than Shinji that is. The young woman's creamy, smooth legs showed between the slit of the elegant robe with each step she took. Last but not least, a single bright blue butterfly clip was placed in the corner of her hair to prevent her bangs from falling in front of her eyes.

"Now come on, we best not keep the boys waiting any longer." Asuka mused, glancing up at the clock on the wall and finding it to be just past eight, she snickered a bit as all the other couples and anyone else who had decided to join the festival had left around seven. "Those two are probably the only ones down in the entry hall still waiting."

The brown haired girl gave her best friend a skeptical look at that comment. "Why did we make them wait an extra hour anyway Asuka?" She questioned with a small quirk in her lips.

The answer was simple. "Because we can."

It was still another fifteen minutes before the girls rounded the corner of the hallway and appeared in the entry hall of the inn. At that instant, Shinji and Toji both stood up from their place at the small table in the hall, their card game which laid spread out on the table long forgotten. Looks of bewilderment and amusement were shared upon seeing the fruits of their respective dates effort in their looks.

"Shinji..." Asuka spoke softly with her head tilted to the side, as if just noticing something. "Did you cut your hair?" With a small smile, she lifted her hand up to his dark brown locks, running her fingers through them as if to examine the change herself. The once untamed and long flowing hair had been clipped, down to the point where his bangs no longer fell past his eyes, and the ponytail had been abandoned as well, replaced by a clean cut style which she had to admire despite the fact that he no longer looked like her old crush... although perhaps that was a good thing.

A grin worked its way onto the young mans lips, and he nodded with a small shrug. "I figured it was time for a change... besides I like the idea of a look all my own. This is way easier to work with anyway..." He smirked then and threw a glance at her, taking his time to take in her beauty. "Looks like I'm not the only one who decided to clean up... you look gorgeous." He whispered under his breath before brushing his lips against hers.

Asuka moved to follow into him, only for the two to break away when Toji called out to them from the doorway. "Hey you two! We're gonna go on ahead and do our own thing. We'll meet up with you later alright!"

The two nodded in return, while Shinji cupped his hands in front of his mouth, shouting out to the couple now descending down the steps. "Don't do anything we haven't done yet!" He cried out with a mirthful smirk, only to be promptly hit over the head by a rather sharp blow.

Beside him, Asuka blushed furiously and her eye twitched in anger. "Baka! Don't say such embarrassing things!" She growled out, turning her head in a pout as she walked out of the Inn, with Shinji following behind her and rubbing his head.

"Tch... Feeling the love already Red."

The festival itself had run late into the night, and all the students had returned to the inn for their final night to get some well deserved rest and to finish packing for their departure in the morning. The fireworks ceremony had held up most of the couples, as the romantic atmosphere had been ideal for any "activities" that the couples wished to carry out, as everyones focus was on the sky during such a time.

And so all was still in the old inn, all was peaceful... except for the two sitting at the table in the meeting hall, worrisome expressions on their faces. "What do we tell the other students?" Mitsumoto asked to no one in particular, rubbing his temples with an exasperated sigh.

Shizune scowled at the question and nearly raised her voice before remembering that the students were sleeping and she could not afford to make a ruckus... nor did she want to meet any of their eyes at the moment. "How do you tell them that one of their own has killed themselves... I mean suicide? Mana hardly seemed the type for it... I know she was upset over that _Ikari_ boy..." She spoke Shinji's last name as if it were acid on her tongue, before shaking her head quickly and regaining her composure. "But I doubt that such a little thing as that could drive her to kill herself."

The middle aged sensei across from Shizune sighed once more, polishing his glasses before placing the frames back on the bridge of his nose. "I've informed the emergency contact we were given... how did she do it?" The words came out just above a whisper, he meant no offense, he was simply curious... it had been Shizune who had wound up finding the body as soon as she had begun her routine rounds around the grounds and the police had quickly defined it a routine suicide, cleared the area and taken the body to the morgue for transportation back to Tokyo 3. A customary procedure especially on the night of the festival, she had to ensure that the students weren't engaging in any inappropriate activities upon the grounds.

A long silence followed before the woman answered, biting her lip every few seconds as she did so. "I found her on the outskirts of the grounds, in the bamboo forest... she impaled herself upon a broken bamboo tree... there was so much blood. She looked so peaceful... like she'd been tormented and her death released the pain." Finally the tears fell from the teachers eyes, and she whimpered softly as Mitsumoto moved to rub her back, in an attempt to soothe her, and shelter her from the horror she had witnessed.

Out in the hallway, two figures stood deathly still, low chuckles escaping their lips as they overheard the conversation the two adults were having. Their faces shrouded by the shadowed blinds, they began to walk slowly down the hall, their footsteps oddly silent on the oak floors.

It wasn't until they stepped outside through the back entrance of the inn that one of the figures burst into laughter before quickly regaining it's silent composure. "Hahaha, suicide! Really of all things, thats what they deduced from the situation... fools." The figure spoke in a lower tone, obviously male.

The other spoke then, a lighter more feminine tone ringing through the night at her voice. "Well... her fingerprints were the only ones on the bamboo tree she was impaled with, so it's natural that would be their conclusion. Either way it's another mess we no longer have to deal with." The shadowed woman shrugged then, and ran her fingers through her hair as if it were of no consequence at all.

The male nodded at her words, glancing up at the moon with a seemingly blank stature. "Yes, just another obstacle removed... I suppose though that is enough for tonight, don't you gather?" He questioned with the slightest inclination of his head.

The female grinned then, turning on her heels and swishing her hips as she reopened the door in which they had come out of. "Yes, you're quite right..." She whispered sultrily, and looked back at her companion with glowing yellow eyes. "Now... come to bed... Adam."

The figure turned around just then, advancing upon her with a lustful grin, bright red eyes shining in the moonlight. "I come... my dear."

**HA! I finally finished this stupid chapter... granted it was all pretty much written in the last twelve hours but I have it done! It may be a bit short but there isn't much more I can add without completely revealing the plot, and I'm not ready for that. Now as always my dear readers READ, REVIEW, AND BE MERRY!**


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